Update 2 August: The Ministry of Health has informed the NSWNA that there is to be no change to the current uniform arrangements in mental health.
Consequently, our petition is no longer active.
The Concord Centre for Mental Health NSWNA Branch is leading the charge against a move by the NSW Ministry of Health to have all mental health and drug and alcohol nurses go back into uniform.
This move is being supported by some Local Health District DONs and the NSW Chief Nurse.
The NSWNA has started a petition, [no longer online], addressed to Jillian Skinner (Minister for Health) and Kevin Humphries (Minister for Mental Health) opposing this move.
Most mental health nurses feel very strongly about this issue and even those who support wearing uniforms believe they should not be compulsory.
Offline, we already have over 150 signatures to this petition from mental health nurses working across SLHD and SWSLHD. It was first believed that this proposal only applied to those districts, but it is now understood that the NSW Chief Nurse and the Ministry of Health are considering a proposal that all mental health clinicians (both inpatient and community) go back into uniform.
This is the petition:
To the Honourable Minister for Health/Medical Research Jillian Skinner and the Honourable Minister for Mental Health Kevin Humphries
Nurses working in mental health inpatient facilities and community mental health across Sydney Local Health District and South Western Sydney Local Health District condemn any proposal for wearing a corporate uniform to be made compulsory.
There is no evidence or logic that wearing a corporate uniform in mental health will deliver safe patient care. We consider this proposal backward looking and ill-informed.
A uniform is not the most appropriate clothing for the tasks that mental health clinicians perform. Uniforms do nothing to enhance or promote an equitable relationship between nurses and their patients. Uniforms remind mental health patients that they are in an institution when available evidence clearly supports person centred models of clinical practice.
We call upon you to oppose any compulsory requirement for mental health nurses to wear a corporate uniform.
Let us know your views about uniforms, compulsory or not – especially if you work in the mental health field.
Image credit: NSWNA
hi- i completed my 3 yr diploma in nursing in Fiji. I suppose this is equivalent to Bachelor in nursing here in Australia. My 2 applications with AHPRA have been refused.
what should i do now? I have wasted 2yrs waiting.
Please help!
Have APHRA given you any advice as to further studies that they require from you? or could you get a job as an AIN or convert to EN?
No- they haven’t given any advice and I can’t start my bridging course as tafe / Unis require eligibility letter from AHPRA which I didn’t get as my 2 applications got refused.
my 2nd application was done by an agent and still it was refused , AHPRA wouldn’t let me know if i can convert to EN. they say submit another application which means another 6-8 months of waiting.
i am so sick of this now.
People experiencing any disorders of thought,cognitionor reality through mental health issues, brain injury etc can be very fearful. A uniform represents authority and can place nurses at risk if they are misidentified. By not wearing uniform the nurse wil be seen as an individual and can actually wear colours that patients may find calming! I work in the community and the abscence of a uniform can keep the patient’s privacy from the neighbours. Please sign the petition and support our colleagues.
… but there are also MH work places, where the clients are voluntary and do not have severe thought disorders.
In some cases, younger clients are ‘acting out’ to avoid responsibilities. Wanting to stay in an environment where other young people are – with nice food and entertainments etc. – can present staff with difficult situations.
For eg. a group of young adult inpatients refuses to leave the TV lounge after ‘lights out’. Nurses in plain clothes are not seen as a deterrent for disruptive behaviour.
In the Unit where I work, I think a uniform ‘may’ assist in keeping order.
( not in every situation, but with some young people, they are where they are now, due to a lack of authority and guidence in their lives )
I think that uniforms in are a good idea – easier on the budget. and cleaner.In the ward it is difficult for staff from another unit to tell the staff on the floor. If your senses were compromised it would be even more difficult.What is wrong with a uniform? When I started it was veils and hundreds of removal buttons. Modern uniforms allow movement and look great and disturbed patients are always easier to calm when they adopt the role of patient.
I think uniforms are a good idea, also for Mental Health Nurses.
Too many times I have found it very difficult to figure out who is the patient or who is the Mental Health staff member, either when I was visiting a patient or when I was working on a psychiatric or Mental Health ward.
If it is difficult for me, as a Registered Nurse and colleague, to figure out who is who, how difficult is it for the patients, their families and visitors?
Also, sometimes some patients might act as if they are health professionals and other patients, visitors, etc might believe them.