David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan Region):
I rise to make a brief contribution on the Safe Patient Care (Nurse to Patient and Midwife to Patient Ratios) Amendment Bill 2026. Victoria was the first jurisdiction in the world to implement nurse-to-patient ratios across its public health system. They were introduced in 2000 via the Nurses and Midwives (Victorian Public Sector) (Single Interest Employers) Enterprise Agreement 2000–2004, which established minimum staffing requirements and the various hospital categorisations. These were formalised in the Safe Patient Care (Nurse to Patient and Midwife to Patient Ratios) Act 2015.
Nurse-to-patient ratios have been critical in improving outcomes for patients and improving workloads for nurses and midwives across the public health system. While the ratios have been amended and expanded over the years, the hospital categorisations first established back in 2000 have remained ostensibly the same. The current bill responds to the classification review into hospital levels in medical and surgical wards and emergency departments to determine appropriate staffing and midwifery workloads and staffing requirements.
These reforms update the list of hospitals in schedule 1 and schedule 3 of the act and will result in 26 hospitals being recategorised to a higher level, with consequential increased staffing ratios. Seventy per cent of these will be in regional Victoria. It is very pleasing to see that the people of regional Victoria will benefit from these amended categorisations.
The Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation have been advocating for a review of hospital classifications for a long time and have welcomed the reforms in this bill. As the title suggests, it will lead to safer patient care. It will save lives. It will support the health and wellbeing of our incredible nurses and midwives.
We are blessed in Victoria to have a world-class hospital system, which is largely attributable to our extraordinary health workforce. Anyone who has spent time in hospital – and I have had three rounds of inpatient care in the term of this Parliament, so I do consider myself somewhat of an expert consumer of health product – will attest to the professionalism, the dedication and the compassion of Victoria’s nurses and midwives. It is incumbent upon us to ensure that they are appropriately remunerated and supported to develop their careers to their full potential.
Likewise, it is incumbent on us to ensure that patients can expect a clinically appropriate staff-to-patient ratio. In short, this bill is in the interests of everyone. I congratulate the government for their actions in this space, and I commend the bill to the chamber.
[Bill passed without dissent]
