Madeleine Harradence, Assistant Secretary of ANMF (Vic Branch)
The new Change of Ward allowance arising from the 2024-2028 public sector EBA is of interest to many members. Here are some of the most common queries (and answers).
What is the Change of Ward allowance?
The Change of Ward Allowance is an allowance payable to an employee who is relocated from their base ward during their rostered shift. This allowance is provided for in Clause 41A of the Nurses and Midwives (Victorian Public Sector) Single Interest Employer Agreement 2024-2028 (the EBA).
It’s important to remember that the Change of Ward allowance was designed to deter employers from redeploying and relocating employees, at short notice, to cover roster shortfall (usually unplanned absence).
Whilst this practice has been used by employers for some time, it became entrenched during the COVID pandemic and ANMF received a lot of member feedback that they felt undervalued when redeployed. You told us that it erodes confidence when you are moved to areas that are not your clinical expertise. Members also reported feeling disconnected from their colleagues when moved to another ward and used to fill gaps.
The Change of Ward allowance therefore operates with two primary purposes:
- to impose a financial penalty on employers each time they redeploy or relocate staff, and
- to compensate employees for being relocated.
Your base ward is the ward or unit you typically work on, or on which you were rostered to work.
The Change of Ward allowance applies where, at the initiative of the employer, an employee performs their rostered shift at a ward, unit or department that is not their base ward.
There are exceptions: the allowance does not apply to casual employees or Pool staff. Among some of the other exemptions are:
- post-registration students required to operate in another ward, unit or department as part of their academic requirements
- a nurse/midwife required to follow their patient to other units/wards – eg: diagnostic imaging or operating theatre
- those on working from home arrangements
- Community Health Centres
- a multi-base ward employee, to the extent they are working on a base ward in accordance with their roster (a multi-base ward employee is contracted to work on more than one base ward).
Anti-avoidance sub-clause
Clause 41A.4 seeks to prevent employers circumventing the Change of Ward allowance by, for example, defining multiple wards as one ward, declaring employees to be part of a pool arrangement or multi-base ward employees contrary to their wishes, or not rostering to a ward, unit or department where that would ordinarily be the case.
Does the allowance apply to me as a clinical nurse consultant who works across campuses, or as an educator who works across different wards of the hospital?
No. However, if you are temporarily relocated into a ward to provide direct patient care (with an allocation of patients) including as a result of demand escalation, then the allowance is payable.
As part of my normal work pattern, I am rostered to work on more than one base ward. Do I receive the allowance if I work on a ward/department other than that which I was rostered?
As a multi base ward employee rostered to work on more than one base ward, you will not receive an allowance for working on the base ward you are rostered to. The allowance will however be payable if, at the initiative of the employer, you perform your rostered shift on a ward, unit or department other than the one you were rostered to, or on a base ward other than that which you were rostered to.
Am I eligible for the allowance if my ward is closed over the Christmas period and I am redeployed to another ward?
If the Christmas closure was planned and you were rostered in advance to another ward, the allowance is not payable. If the Christmas closure occurred at the last minute and you had been rostered to one ward but are now required to work in another, the allowance is payable.
I work on Ward A. Partway through my shift a colleague on Ward B goes home sick, and I am told to go to Ward B to assist. Do I get the allowance?
If the timing means that you have effectively been relocated for the rostered shift, the allowance applies, even if it occurs partway through. If, however, you had effectively performed your rostered shift in the rostered location and were relocated to another ward for part of a shift to backfill an absence, the allowance would not be payable.
Note: This relocation should not occur if Ward A is then non-compliant with the minimum requirements of the Safe Patient Care Act. Occupied beds include those available to be occupied.
I work in a large ICU that is divided into teams, each with an in charge. Although I am allocated to a team on the roster, I commonly move across teams for my shift. Does the allowance apply?
No. The allowance is not payable for movement that is an ordinary, expected part of the work in a large unit or department.
Will I get the allowance if I am redeployed after I start my shift?
Employers should not be redeploying you after the commencement of your shift with the intent of avoiding paying the allowance. If you have been redeployed for most of your shift, then this should attract the allowance.
If you are redeployed or go to help in an area for a very short period (example, you cover a break for someone OR you go to another ward to administer chemotherapy or access a line because that is your area of expertise) then the allowance would not apply.
Do I get the allowance if I turn up to my shift and am allocated in-charge?
Not if you are in charge of the ward you were rostered to work in. But being in charge may attract a higher duties payment.
If you are allocated in charge of a ward you were not rostered to work in, the allowance will apply. Higher duties may also apply.
Do I get the allowance if I move into different areas throughout the shift?
If you are assisting in another area this will not attract the allowance. If your employer is redeploying you for five to six hours of an eight-hour shift then you are performing your rostered shift elsewhere and this should attract the allowance.
Do I get the allowance if my ward has more than one readily identifiable clinical section?
Yes, the clause specifically references Base Wards with more than one readily identifiable clinical section. If you were rostered to work in a particular section and you are redeployed to plug a roster gap (example for an unplanned absence) in another section, then you should be paid the allowance.
Example: You work on a ward with different clinical sections such as anaesthetics and PACU/recovery, and scrub-scout. The allowance would be payable if you were rostered to work anaesthetics and then turned up to your shift and find instead that you’re used to plug a roster gap in scrub-scout.
It would not apply, however, if you’re following a patient to PACU from anaesthetics, and that is a usual requirement of your position.
This allowance would also not necessarily be payable in theatres where staff work across all areas, and there are not readily identifiable sections nurses/midwives are rostered to.
Likewise, if you work in anaesthetics and if your list finishes early and management asks you to help in recovery or do restocking, you are unlikely to get the allowance.
This allowance would also not necessarily be payable in theatres where staff work across all areas, and there are not readily identifiable sections nurses/midwives are rostered to.
Does the allowance apply if my ward/unit has been temporarily relocated?
No. The allowance is payable if you are rostered to a different ward, not if your ward is in a different location. A ward relocation is generally planned, and it should be known on your forward roster (and as part of the consultation communications).
If, however, the relocated ward is smaller and as a result you are redeployed to a ward other than the one that was rostered, then the allowance will apply.
Does it apply if I am not ward based?
No. You need to be ward-based to be eligible to receive the allowance.
If you work between two regional areas and are rostered to work one but are then asked to work the other, you will not be entitled to the Change of Ward allowance but your redeployment to another campus entitles you to paid travel time.
However, if you are normally employed across the whole campus but get redeployed to work as a clinician in a specific unit, in a different role, that is that is specifically mentioned as a trigger for the Change of Ward allowance.
Do I get the allowance if my roster wasn’t posted in line with the EBA?
No. The issue here is that the employer is not compliant with the roster clause in the current EBA. Rosters must be of at least 28 days duration and posted at least 28 days before it comes into operation.
However, the new EBA contains a provision in line with the following: Where a roster is not posted 28 days in advance each shift in the roster that is worked with less than 28 days’ notice shall attract a change of roster allowance.
Does the allowance apply if I work in a team-based midwifery continuity-of-care model?
Whilst it will depend on the specific arrangements, if your team-based midwifery continuity of care model provides for you to follow the woman through their journey, and that is what the midwife is doing, the exception at 41A.3(g) applies – in other words, the allowance does not apply.
I am a midwife rostered to birth suite, but I am not required in birth suite because there are no birthing women. I am redeployed to another ward in addition to the minimum staffing ratio. Would I receive the allowance?
If you are redeployed for the rostered shift, then the allowance will apply. If, however, you are redeployed for a part of a shift only, the allowance only applies where, on balance, the period of relocation would constitute the rostered shift.
If, after I’ve birthed a woman, I follow the woman to postnatal to settle her in for the first hour or so, then return to birth suite, does the allowance apply?
If you are not given a patient allocation in postnatal, no.
If I get moved from an AM in birth suite to a PM in postnatal, do I get both the Change of Ward and Change of Rosters allowances?
If birth suite is your base ward and the day before your shift your NUM changes your roster to a PM shift in birth suite, you are eligible for the Change of Roster allowance.
If you are rostered to work birth suite (your base ward) and when you turn up to work you are relocated to postnatal, you are eligible for the Change of Ward allowance.
If you are rostered to work birth suite (your base ward) and the day before your shift your NUM changes your roster to a PM shift in postnatal, you are eligible for both the Change of Roster and Change of Ward allowances.
Do I receive the allowance if I work overtime on a different ward?
No. The Change of Roster allowance is only paid where a person is rostered to perform a shift in one ward but is relocated to another ward. Overtime is generally not rostered.
Does it apply to me when I cover breaks in different areas of my ward/unit?
No. Covering meal breaks is an ordinary, expected movement.
