HSR and Job Rep Mary Macgregor. Photo: Penny Stephens
A longtime HSR and more recent Job Rep, Albury Wodonga Health’s Hospital in the Home RN Mary Macgregor is really enjoying both roles. ‘They’re like chocolate chips in my career cookie,’ she says.
Day to day, Mary’s role takes her vast distances – often across state borders (the role took on a unique challenge during the height of COVID lockdowns when the border was closed, she notes. ‘We still had to cross it each day, negotiating the queues and checkpoints, to visit our patients on the other side of the river.’)
Despite their workplace being in two states, the Hospital in the Home team have a home base within the hospital’s medical/surgical ward. It was here that Mary first worked when she moved to Wodonga, and she became an HSR for the ward several years ago. Her decision to nominate for the position was driven in part by personal, not professional, experience.
‘In the year before I moved up here, one of my family members had suffered a workplace accident that resulted in their total and permanent disability,’ she explains. ‘Seeing the devastation to their life, and the massive effect that it had on our family, it ignited in me a passion for safety at work for everyone.’
She had already been working as manual handling trainer during this time, so when she found herself in a new hospital in a new town, she was keen to continue this line of work – but no positions were available. When the ward needed an HSR, however, Mary jumped at the opportunity.
These days, she is an HSR for both the home ward and the wider Hospital in the Home unit, which brings its own challenges (as seen during COVID). ‘I am acutely aware of dangers that independent clinicians like me and my colleagues face when visiting patients in their home environment,’ she says.
These dangers can include risks associated with the properties (access, animals, parking, location, mobile phone coverage) or the clients (infectious conditions, sexual disinhibition or emotional dysregulation, brain injury/dementia, neighbours or family/flatmates, drug and alcohol use).
As an HSR, she regularly ‘advocates for thorough risk screening of all our potential patients, including reviewing previous admissions patients have had with the organisation, for any red flags’. If there are any safety concerns for staff, she says, she will work with them to try to organise alternative ways that patients can receive care without compromising staff safety.
As an HSR, Mary also knows that she is very well supported by the ANMF. ‘If I have questions related to health and safety, I can consult with my organisation’s health and safety team, as well as seek advice from the ANMF Health and Safety team.’
Adding Job Rep to her resume
A year ago, Mary decided to also take on the Job Rep role. As an HSR, she already worked closely with the two Job Reps on the ward so had some understanding of what the role involved.
‘My decision to become a Job Rep came after I attended last year’s delegates conference [for the first time], as an HSR,’ she explains. ‘Attending the conference and seeing how the direction of the union is directly guided by members through their delegates was quite eye opening; I had never previously really thought about how the union operates.’
She was impressed by the delegates’ passion for ‘representing their colleagues and improving their working conditions’, and by the considered debate around ‘issues surrounding our work so that overall, the nursing and midwifery professions improve’. And she wanted to be part of that passion.
Holding both roles is beneficial she says. ‘I think it gives me a more balanced way to support my colleagues.’
As a ‘relatively new’ Job Rep, Mary only undertook the initial two-day training in March 2024. But she’s found it to be an invigorating time to come on board, in the midst of 2024 EBA negotiations.
‘The existing Job Reps at my organisation have welcomed me to the group, and we all recently worked hard to make sure that all our colleagues were up to date with their membership details in order to vote [in the protected industrial action ballot],’ she says. ‘As a team, we also contacted family and friends that we knew in other hospitals across our region to encourage them to vote.’
This enthusiasm has been infectious, with Mary’s colleagues regularly asking about EBA negotiations and what action is needed to get the results they are looking for. ‘These discussions normally occur around the tearoom table, or at lunch,’ she explains. ‘They’re casual, and usually in response to the information that I and my fellow delegates have been posting on noticeboards.’
Becoming a Job Rep has also meant that Mary has met and learnt from delegates in other departments of the hospital. She has found this invaluable. ‘We all want the best workplace for ourselves and our colleagues and it’s great to all be able to work towards that goal together.’
She’s enjoying both roles so much that she encourages others to get involved. ‘To others thinking of doing either role, just do it,’ she says. ‘It’s like what I tell students I supervise: be willing to try new things and new areas. Step out of your comfort zone. You may think you know what your passion is, and then something may come along that takes you by surprise.’
