Ms JENNY AITCHISON (Maitland) (18:41): I speak today about the lack of staffing at the New Maitland Hospital. Doctors, nurses, midwives and all other medical professionals and ancillary staff are being worked to the bone. I have been on a journey with the health sector workers in my electorate since nearly 2011, when the New Maitland Hospital was first proposed. I listened to union members, the New South Wales Nurses and Midwives' Association, the Health Services Union and Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation and their concerns about the proposed privatisation. We worked side-by-side for seven or eight years. Together, we worked on informing and educating the entire community about the importance of public health and ensuring that our hospital remained in public hands.

In the process we doorknocked, we rallied, we called people, I spoke in Parliament and we met with the health Minister. We collected tens of thousands of signatures to generate debate that ultimately led to that better outcome of a public hospital for both patients and health workers. We managed to squeeze an additional $70 million out of the State Government for the New Maitland Hospital over and above the initial promise. This is despite the rhetoric of our political opponents, who told us that the sky would fall in if the New Maitland Hospital was fully public. What is important and has delivered results for our health workers and our community is that willingness to work together to achieve the best results for our community. That is what we have done and will continue to do because our hospital is not just about the building—most importantly, it is about people and those who are working to keep our community safe and healthy.

I remember back to the time when we had to fight privatisation and, at times, it looked as though we would not win. At a couple of stages we even thought we had lost the battle. But we were determined and, together, we eventually prevailed. In the nearly four months since the New Maitland Hospital opened on 19 January I have heard—as I did in the years before that—from so many nurses and midwives, doctors, cleaners, orderlies, security guards and tonnes of people throughout that hospital system who have been struggling with workload issues. I heard recently that the old hospital was only ever funded for 140 of the 188 beds it contained. I have not been able to get a clear figure from the Government on how many beds are operating from the new site, but I am sure it is many more than 188.

I hear from unions, health workers and patients through hundreds of emails that there are still significant stresses on everyone involved in the system. I am concerned about the health and safety of our nurses and midwives. I have spoken to many who were in tears, literally at breaking point, due to the demands and stresses of their workloads. Cleaners now have substantially bigger areas to clean, including bathrooms for every bedroom instead of one for every four. Security guards have to walk further to get around the hospital. Orderlies have to take patients longer distances. It is a much bigger space and there are many more patients coming. I do not think there is anyone who can tell me that the New Maitland Hospital has appropriate, safe workloads by any measure.

I am concerned that some staff will not make it to March 2023. They are retiring, they are leaving the sector, they are voting with their feet due to the excessive workloads, and the ongoing mental and physical strain and toll on them. It is already happening and it is a disaster for our health system. I have worked very closely with the Federal member for Paterson, Meryl Swanson. Meryl understands the critical health issues that are facing our community and she has worked incredibly hard with Federal Labor to look at these issues. She has secured a commitment from Federal Labor for improvements to free up access to GPs and after‑hours GPs in Maitland and surrounding areas so that people are not forced to go to an emergency department to see a doctor for minor medical issues.

Meryl has worked to get a commitment from Federal Labor for a Medicare licence for the MRI machine at the New Maitland Hospital so that people can get bulk‑billed for MRI imaging, so that the machine can operate more than two days a week—as it currently is now—and so that staff are not shuffling patients in and around private and public hospitals in the region to get them scanned. Meryl and I are united in fighting to improve all aspects of health care in our community. But what have The Nationals and Liberals done for my area? Nothing.

Even with the sitting Federal Minister for Regional Health representing the north of my electorate, we could not get a commitment for the Medicare licence for the MRI machine. And on the day I marched with tens of thousands of nurses and midwives on Macquarie Street, the Liberal candidate for Paterson was proposing a train station at the hospital as her only health policy for Maitland and Paterson. I thank everyone who has shared their story with me and I encourage patients to continue to reach out to me. State and Federal governments must do better. I am sorry to say I think that is only going to happen with a change of government.