HEALTH FORUM - UPDATE
Health forum: update from 17th October 2011
Students from the School of Nursing and Midwifery, in conjunction with Newcastle University Students’ Association (NUSA) conducted a Health forum on Monday October 17th to discuss the changes to wages and conditions to workers in the public sector. These changes were initiated by Barry O’Farrell, the Premier of NSW and were recently passed in State Parliament. Students met to discuss the implications this would have on Nurses and Midwives as probable future public sector workers.
Who attended?
The evening had a variety of speakers. These included people who provided information about the reality of these changes and people who spoke about how we can take action as students. Alist of the speakers include:
- Charlotte Ismay- First year Nursing Student
- Clare Bolton- John Hunter Hospital NSW Nurses’ Association delegate and Intensive Care Unit Nurse
- Lisa Kremmer- NSW Nurses’ Associat6ion Representative
- Dr. Helen Bellchambers- Academic at the School of Nursing and Midwifery
- Paul Doherty- Unions NSW (to speak about action)
- Heather Richards- President of NUSA (spoke about action and what we can do in the future)
Though the night had a relatively small turnout of students, we were able to make a start on what we can do in the future as an ongoing, long-term project.
What was decided?
After being informed about changes to the public sector workers’ condition and wages, the following actions have been decided:
- Create a group of first, second and third year delegates for 2012 and keep an active group on the issue, with more forums in the future
- To contact and arrange students from other departments who will be affected by these changes to become involved so we can take action together. Students from faculties such as Education, and possibly some Arts majors
- Have another forum in the first semester of 2012 combined with the aforementioned faculties.This will be a better opportunity to sign a petition and write letters
- Decide on a group name. Start voting now, or let us know if you have any other suggestions. A poll for possible names is now open at the link below: http://nusa.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=167&Itemid=75
- Involve otherUoN campuses, with possible representatives there
A recording of the evening will all speakers and decisions will be available shortly if you missed the forum.
More information will also be available soon, in regards to the group name and other future plans.
If you have any comments, concerns, feedback, ideas or would like to get involved, please do not hesitate to contact Heather or Charlotte and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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| Charlotte Ismay | Heather Richards |
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