VIC:Mental health situation dire: nurse

AAP General News (Australia)
12-07-2011
VIC:Mental health situation dire: nurse

Mental health nurses have voted to step up work bans as they press on with their pay
and conditions dispute with the Victorian government.

Hundreds of psychiatric nurses and support staff were today the latest group involved
in an industrial dispute with the state government to rally outside Parliament House in
Melbourne.

They've voted to escalate work bans, including refusing to admit more patients than
the actual number of beds in a unit, except in emergency cases.

Unplanned patient discharges with less than four hours' notice will also be banned
and nurses won't accept roster changes with less than seven days' notice.

Their union wants a 16 per cent pay rise over three years, while the state government's
public sector wages policy is 2.5 per cent.

AAP RTV mj/mn/wf

KEYWORD: MENTAL (MELBOURNE)

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