MANAGEMENT at Dubbo Hospital have been given until Wednesday to find a solution to a staff shortage the nurses say is putting them and patients at risk.
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There are currently 27 full-time vacancies that need to be filled in order to meet minimum staffing requirements, with nursing staff across Dubbo Hospital averaging 423 hours of overtime per week to cover the shortfall.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSW NMA) Dubbo Hospital branch has urged hospital management to close beds and decrease non-urgent elective surgery by 20 per cent in order to reduce bed demand.
Management have so far refused the requests, the NSW NMA said, prompting local members to vote on Monday to close beds themselves if hospital management doesn't fix the shortage.
NSW NMA assistant general secretary Judith Kiejda said the amount of overtime was astounding and unsustainable.
"To try and run a hospital 27 staff short is just not possible," Ms Kiejda said.
"The exhaustion caused by working such unacceptable hours of overtime is creating high levels of fatigue and leading to increased sick leave, which makes the whole situation much worse.
"We're seeing staff in the operating suites putting in 120 hours of overtime a week. Those kinds of conditions are clearly unsafe and put the Dubbo community and hospital staff at risk."
Western NSW LHD director nursing and midwifery Adrian Fahy acknowledged the vacancies.
"These types of vacancies are not uncommon for a large facility of this type which has also recently commissioned new services associated with Stages 1 and 2 of the Dubbo Hospital redevelopment," Mr Fahy said.
"The Local Health District is currently recruiting additional Registered Nurses noting that 17 full-time equivalent staff are currently in the later stages of recruitment and appointment to the Dubbo Hospital facility."
He said the health district is also using an internal reliever pool and external agency nursing staff to ensure all nursing shifts are covered appropriately.
"The Local Health District is committed to the provision of safe patient care and the welfare of the nursing team at Dubbo and has taken all reasonable steps to address the vacancy situation," Mr Fahy said.
"Any overtime worked by staff at Dubbo Hospital and any facility at Western NSW Local Health District is only undertaken when necessary and agreed upon by the staff member, and when safe to do so for both our patients and the staff member."
