Husband of health care worker slams ‘all talk’ government, says ‘drained’ staff want to quit

The husband of a health care worker says his wife wants to quit her job due to the strain she’s being put under, slamming what he says is the government’s lack of action in preparing Victoria’s health system for the impacts of COVID-19.

The Victorian government said it was being proactive by declaring a Code Brown on Tuesday, which will allow hospitals to recall staff from leave and reduce access to “less urgent” health services.

It prompted David to call Neil Mitchell to voice his frustration.

He said the government was “all words” and nothing had been done to fix staffing concerns in recent years.

“It’s all good for them to ‘redeploy’ people, but they’ve got to be qualified in what they’re doing,” David said.

“This has all come about because the government didn’t bother, years ago, to put money into the system.

“The system fails because it’s been failing for years.”

He said his wife worked at a major Melbourne hospital and was feeling the full effects.

“My wife is at the stage, sorry, where she is thinking of resigning,” David said.

“The only reason she can’t is because we can’t afford it.

“It’s got to that stage where a lot of people she knows no longer work in the system because they just can’t take it mentally – it’s draining.”

Neil Mitchell said David’s call highlighted the issue at hand.

“We were supposedly flattening the curve to get ready, and now it has hit – we are not ready,” he said.

Press PLAY below to hear David’s passionate call

Picture: Getty iStock