Implementation of new nurse/midwife ratios should now be well underway.
The Safe Patient Care (Nurse to Patient and Midwife to Patient Ratios) Act 2015 (the Act) sets minimum nursing and midwifery staffing requirements for publicly funded health services. Advocacy from the ANMF has seen improvements to the Act including the Safe Patient Care (Nurse to Patient and Midwife to Patient Ratios) Amendment Bill 2025. As previously reported the legislation, which passed Victorian Parliament in April, is being implemented in three stages:
- 25% of staffing from 9 April 2025
- 75% by 1 December 2025
- full implementation by July 2026.
The amending legislation provides for the following improvements:
- postnatal and antenatal night shift ratios will move to 1:4 (currently 1:6) in Level 4 (metro load sharing), 5 and 6 services under the Safer Care Victoria Maternity Capability Framework
- schedule 3, part 1 hospital emergency department resuscitation bays will move to 1:1 on the morning shift (currently 1:3)
- inclusion of intensive care units in the SPC Act which includes:
– 1:1 ICU ratio for all shifts in schedule 1, level 1 and level 2 services’ ICUs (formalising current staffing arrangements)
– team leader (resource nurses) in addition to the prescribed ratios in level 1 and level 2 services’ ICUs
– liaison nurse (outreach nurses) in addition to prescribed ratios in level 1 and level 2 services’ ICUs - night duty plus in charge in standalone high dependency units and coronary care units in level 1 services
Health services need to consult with staff and ANMF (Vic Branch) to ensure that additional shifts are best allocated to support service delivery and address service demand during implementation.
For example, Casey Hospital Emergency Department members recently met to review the workload requirements of ED to assess the best allocation of resources to achieve the first ratio improvement.
Members resolved that:
- having calculated the 25 per cent staffing increase as it applies to their ED, that this would equate to an additional 28 shifts per month .
- Considering the current workload variations in ED, members proposed that the priority shifts would be Monday morning shifts and weekend morning shifts.
ANMF will continue to work with members across the public sector to implement the additional staffing by September 2025.
To find out more about what these changes mean for your workplace visit anmfvic.asn.au/ratioamendments25faq.
