Major surgeries will be halted at a major hospital as hundreds of nurses and midwives strike in their ongoing fight for better staffing levels amid wage negotiations.
Nurses and midwives at St Vincent's Private Hospitals in Melbourne began rolling protected industrial action across morning, afternoon, and night shifts on Friday.
The health workers are taking the "unprecedented" action to secure more nurses and midwives in the private hospital sector because workers are increasingly suffering burn out, the Victorian branch of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation said.
While patients may face some disruptions, safety and welfare will not be at risk, and no more than one-third of rostered nurses will stop work on any shift in larger wards, the union said.
Understaffing is leading to missed patient care and workforce exhaustion, the union's Victoria assistant secretary Madeleine Harradence said.
"Perversely having expensive health insurance as a patient in a Victorian private hospital currently means you have fewer nurses and midwives to care for you than if you were a patient in a public hospital," she said.
"They’re escalating their action as a last resort because management is not listening and not responding to their concerns."
Burned-out workers are increasingly refusing to answer calls to cover shifts, with the busy Fitzroy hospital's maternity service forced to redirect patients overnight on December 4 because staff wouldn't volunteer to come in.
Another example of unacceptable workload was having two nurses assigned to 18 patients during overnight shifts in the acute medical surgical ward across all sites, the union said.
The union has been locked in negotiations over wages and conditions for members at St Vincent’s Private Hospitals in Fitzroy, East Melbourne, Werribee and Kew since June 2024.
Theatre and recovery nurses will hold another stop-work action on Wednesday by refusing to work the afternoon surgery session except in emergency cases.
More than 1000 of the 1400 St Vincent’s nursing and midwifery workforce in Victoria are members of the union, which said it had not heard from or met with management since November 29.
‘We know safe staffing saves lives, reduces patient re-admission and is a cost-effective way of preventing understaffing and maintaining a stable permanent early career and experienced nursing and midwifery workforce," Ms Harradence said.
St Vincent's Private Hospitals chief executive Janine Loader reassured patients their safety was her top priority during the action.
The institution has previously offered an 11.5 per cent pay increase over 2 years from February 2025 but that was rejected.
“It is disappointing the union has not accepted two offers that would have delivered a significant pay rise and improved conditions for our nurses and midwives," Ms Loader said.
"However, we will continue negotiating in good faith to achieve the best possible agreement."
