Cairns Hospital

I have worked at this hospital for many years (as there's limited other hospital based nursing jobs in Cairns).  I have found the further north you travel the worse the skill becomes and many staff, regardless of education and position, are slack in adhering to quality care whether they be the cook, the cleaner, the doctor, admin or the nurse for example.  I hear nurses swearing in front of patients.  I see extremely poor medical care and neglect... particularly on the weekends when it appears that the hospital thinks people don't get sick.  The nurse patient ratio set by legislation is not followed making an unsafe workplace in many wards.  I see racism.  I see a hospital that goes above and beyond just prior to Hospital Accreditation so as to 'pass' and then slackens off again once it's over.  I see a huge amount of bullying and horizontal violence particularly amongst nursing staff.  I see poorly qualified and poorly suited team leaders and managers who are not pro active in improving the workplace or the culture within.  I see many patients who are from a lower socioeconomic community and obviously need help but nurses in particular are so bigoted and just treat them like lesser human beings.  There seems to be such a lack of empathy which amazes me because I feel hospitals are places where a person should be able to expect empathy and care.  If you want to move up the ladder despite poor qualifications this is the place for you.  If you want to work amongst a bunch of hypocrites where bullying is rife, and even makes national news, this is your workplace.  On the plus side, the QLD government provides great salary packaging and superannuation.  There's also some nice views over the ocean particularly from the higher levels (of the poorly built) building.  It's great that patients, and staff, can walk over the road and sit in the beautiful park lands that overlook the ocean when they can get out or have a break.

Cairns Base Hospital is a parochial regional hospital with an extremely poor culture that expresses itself in severe bullying of staff who are considered outsiders and who are targeted by powerful groups of bullying staff.  This is schoolyard bullying at its worst because it destroys people.  There are a lot of decent people on staff but they are powerless to stop the bullying and are afraid the bullying groups will turn on them.

Management is well aware of the bullying culture but refuses to do anything about it or hold the groups of offenders accountable for repeated bullying of other staff.  Senior staff officially deny there is a problem to protect their careers.  It is like the Patel situation - as long as the work gets done, management does not care about the poor morale of staff and the people destroyed by bullying.

Unless you are a Cairns local with a support network at the hospital, or a graduate of James Cook University and very confident you will be accepted by the bullying groups, be very careful about taking a position at Cairns Bullying Hospital.  If they decide they don't like you, you will be bullied relentlessly until you leave.

Bullying was alive , well & nurtured by executive.  Grossly poor management supervision; appalling clinical practice which was rarely noticed let alone addressed.  Those who did raise issues soon found themselves looking for work elsewhere.  I learned to follow the path of other professionals  who valued their principles and registration - RESIGN.  Excessive recruitment of   international nurses, over Australian nurses; international nirss/clinicians   who not only didn't know Australian standards but beloved their own countries legislation was automatically identical to Australia's.  Any Australian nurse who tried to rectify the issues soon found thmslves marginalised because they were the minority & not supported by management.  The union  were aware & did what they could but it wasn't sufficient enough to keep the good &/or local nurses.

After being self employed for the previous 4 years, working at the Cairns Hospital was very different. Working manly day shifts, only one weekend every three weeks and fixed rosters made a dramatic difference to work/life balance. It did wonders for my family life and allowed me to spend quality time with my 2 boys, who were the reason why I joined the hospital in the first place. 

I enjoyed working in a different environment, dealing with a varied client base, all having their own special service needs.

Being part of a very experienced team of Supply Officers who supported each other made my work enjoyable and rewarding.

The hours and acuity of workload, not enough time off call for the WTE. Burnt out by work overload then blamed - but also gossiped about across the whole hhs. Confidentiality breeches about staff members health issues. Temporary contract extended on going with no permanent job security.  Lack of empathy from managers. No accommodations were made for my disability- and I was blamed for health flare ups- no empathy or support from managers or team. Teams left to manage themselves. 

Although the pay is great the people here are just miserable. The supervisors are rude and only want to help you when its convenient for them and the workplace in general is just a negative place to be. 

They look down on younger people and if you're a casual its hard to make plans as you are on call 24/7.

This is by far THE WORST workplace environment I have ever been in. They don't look after their staff and even better the staff in the kitchen don't even want to be there.

Typical day was unlock/lockup procedure, respond to duress alarms, respond to all manner of security issues
Security Manager was an experienced operator with a wealth of knowledge and was willing to pass this on.
about half of the co-workers knew what they were doing and could be counted on as team members
hardest part of the job was dealing with all the aggression of the drug or alcohol effected patients, most enjoyable part was being on shift with some great team members

A typical day at work would entail meeting with patients on request. Assessment of patients needs in relation to Social Work principles and practice. Providing advocacy, support, grief and loss counselling, coordinating and facilitaing family meetings with patients, family members and docotors and allied health professionals.

CBH serviced a very large area at the top of australia and beyond. As such there was quite a dynamic and ever changing need for various types of patient care.  Treating such a diverse range of cultures brought with it challenges that in my experience, were met by the staff with empathy, determination and perseverance. Due to its locality and area it serviced, it was very common to see it at full capacity.

Time management and the willingness to learn new skills was very rewarding working at the Cairns Base Hospital.

The hardest part of the job was finding my way around the hospital and understanding the requirements for the job because of limited experience in the industry. 

The most enjoyable part of the job was working with staff of all backgrounds and being productive in the workplace.

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