Workers claim Victoria's Alfred Health is failing to meet legally-mandated nurse-to-patient ratios in its resuscitation and trauma bays.

The critical care nurses at Alfred Hospital have reportedly expressed concerns to Safer Care Victoria that the emergency department's resuscitation beds are not adequately staffed, raising fears that a fatal mistake could occur. 

In March 2021, new laws were enacted, requiring that each resuscitation bed in emergency departments be staffed by one nurse during afternoon and night shifts.

However, leaked rosters from Alfred Hospital allegedly show that only seven nurses, including one who does not directly care for patients, are scheduled to work across five trauma bays and four resuscitation bays during these shifts. 

This, the nurses claim, falls short of the mandated one-to-one staffing levels.

It has been alleged that the hospital is deliberately bypassing the required ratios by rostering nurses to cover a general “critical care area” rather than assigning them to individual beds.