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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-05-12 Daily Xml
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International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife

Ms COOK (Hurtle Vale) (15:31): I rise today to speak about the International Nurses Day and also about the International Day of the Midwife, both of which are contained within this year, the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife. I am pretty sure that when the WHO named this the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife and when the International Council of Nurses named the theme for this year as nurses caring for everybody towards health, they did not really imagine what was going to come in terms of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year, beyond any other year, it has been vital for us to stop today, take a breath and think about the hard work and care that nurses and midwives continue to provide for our community every day and particularly throughout the pandemic. Of course, we are reminded that 5 May is International Day of the Midwife, and 12 May every year is International Nurses Day because 12 May is Florence Nightingale's birthday—and today is her 200th birthday.

As the shadow minister for health and wellbeing and my friend, the member for Kaurna, has already pointed out, we started our day with a breakfast, hosting quite a number of nurses and midwives from around South Australia, including a team of nurses who nurse at the Flinders Medical Centre. Amy, who, happily, is a past student of mine, is a young, dynamic, highly motivated and highly skilled nurse who is heading up the team there in radiology. They were dressed up in period costume, and I am sure Amy was a much improved version of Florence Nightingale. I understand she has kept that attire on for at least most of the day today.

Florence Nightingale appropriately championed the need for good personal hygiene and sanitation, particularly turning her attention to hand hygiene. Of course now, 200 years down the track, we all find ourselves focused very much on hand hygiene, not just the washing of hands but the use and perhaps the extreme use of hand sanitiser, which has become liquid gold in our community. Apart from the irony of the name, the theme and the occurrence of the year and the days this year, we also have this repeat of the education of Florence Nightingale.

Nurses in our community have an enormous capacity to demonstrate good leadership and guidance through episodes such as the coronavirus pandemic. They provide leadership and also comfort and care for families who are feeling very confused and worried for their members going to school, attending outings, going to hospitals for appointments or presenting to hospital for not just the coronavirus and its illness but other standard illnesses that people have to go to hospital for. People are worried about contracting the virus and worried about coming into contact with people. Nurses are really well placed at the front line to provide that education.

I was pleased to hear about investment in upskilling and education for nurses within our public and private health system. I have had conversations with many nurses about how that needs to continue and be ongoing. As anybody would know, when you learn a skill and are given something new to do, if you do not continue to practise it and are not provided the opportunity to learn it over and over again, it becomes difficult to do under pressure. For the hundreds of nurses who have been able to have that opportunity to upskill, I think it is a vision that we should take forward. We should provide them with the opportunity to consolidate those skills and use them and continue to have ongoing education.

Many nurses and leaders in nursing have inspired me throughout the past three or so decades since I trained at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and I want to thank every single one of them, some of whom I have spoken to in recent days as well. I just want to say to you: keep doing what you are doing, and thank you for the confidence and the guidance you are giving young nurses today that gives us the opportunity to move forward, to work towards our full scope of practice and to have such a brilliant healthcare system that we have today.

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