A nurse from the North West Regional Hospital who was stood down for choosing not to be vaccinated says the vaccine mandate should be reconsidered in light of increasing staff shortages.
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The registered nurse from the NWRH - who asked not to be identified - said there was a workforce ready and able to support the Tasmanian Health Service - if the government would reconsider its vaccine mandate.
"The fact is that all along we've been available and willing to work," they said.
"My boss has been fairly sympathetic this whole time and I've said it to them over and over, I'll happily come back."
Speaking on January 13, Premier Peter Gutwein said maintaining a workforce was the state's largest concern.
"Our biggest challenge at the moment is not serious illness, our biggest challenge is the fact that we have so many people absent from work as a result of the isolation measures that we have in place," he said.
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"The virus isn't discriminating between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated, everyone's getting it and we're all going to be exposed to it," they said.
"The fact is they've dug their heels in and haven't been willing to look at the scenario and go, well, perhaps I'm no more at risk being at work than a vaccinated person."
The department would not confirm how many staff had been stood down or terminated, only advising about 160 staff had failed to meet the government mandate.
On Friday, Health Department deputy secretary Dale Webster said the vaccine mandate was implemented to reduce the spread of COVID-19, and advised reinstating unvaccinated staff was not an option being considered to address the workforce shortage.
On the same day, Mr Webster announced the NWRH would join the Launceston General Hospital and Royal Hobart Hospital at escalation response level three following a rise in staff cases.
He said elective surgery services would be reduced after 90 staff were impacted by COVID, confirming statewide, 188 health workers were active cases.
When asked about the redeployment of unvaccinated nurses, Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation state secretary Emily Shepherd said the health union was currently in discussions with the government regarding a surge workforce.
"Clearly, with staffing challenges that have the potential to become more critical all avenues must be explored, including a potential workforce that could be used in remote or virtual roles," she said.
The nurse from the NWRH said while some nurses were still awaiting termination, others had resigned to protect their registration status, in the hopes the government would make changes to the vaccination mandate in the future.
Andrew Chounding is The Examiner's Health Reporter, if you have a health-related story please email Andrew.chounding@examiner.com.au
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