NPAQ Nurses Professional Association of Queensland

07/09/2026

We sent submission 3 to the Queensland Health Minister, the Director-General, and the Minister for Women.

A Queensland nurse told us:

“Initially denied even when I had a medical certificate stating a chronic condition. I have had to provide two medical certificates and send emails fighting to get the leave approved. I have also heard from numerous other nurses having to explain personal delicate female issues with our male director.”

This is not an isolated experience. Nurses across Queensland are being denied legitimate leave, asked to disclose personal medical details, and now can't even see their Reproductive Health Leave balance in the HR system.

If this has happened to you, please share your story. It takes a few minutes and responses can be anonymous.

Survey: https://hubs.la/Q04wQd0D0

Read more: https://hubs.la/Q04wQd1r0

Every story counts.

07/09/2026

We sent submission 2 to the Queensland Health Minister, the Director-General, and the Minister for Women.

A Queensland nurse told us:

“It was denied by the NUM. I was not able to access it. They asked for evidence which I provided, a medical certificate, even though it was only for one day of leave. It was still not approved and I was put down for leave without pay instead. The application was then withdrawn on my behalf without my knowledge or approval.”

This is not an isolated experience. Nurses across Queensland are being denied legitimate leave, asked to disclose personal medical details, and now can't even see their Reproductive Health Leave balance in the HR system.

If this has happened to you, please share your story. It takes a few minutes and responses can be anonymous.

Survey: https://hubs.la/Q04wQbYK0

Read more: https://hubs.la/Q04wQb_70

Every story counts.

05/09/2026

A nurse at Atherton Hospital was threatened with a knife by a patient who should never have been on that ward.

"A patient with dementia and a known history of aggression, for whom cutlery access had already been restricted, obtained a knife and attempted to attack staff members." — Kara Thomas, NPAQ President

Security and staff had already logged multiple risk assessments on him. A transfer to a secure setting in Cairns was agreed, then put on hold.

"Staff have described being on the receiving end of this and similar patients' aggression repeatedly, including being kicked and struck."

More than 10 dementia and NDIS patients are stuck in beds at Atherton. Nurses are being kicked, punched and threatened, in a hospital with no secure capacity and duress alarms that don't work.

This is not part of the job.

🔗 Report via the Cairns Post: https://hubs.ly/Q04wFxvz0

If this raises issues for you, support is available: Lifeline 13 11 14 | Nurse & Midwife Support 1800 667 877

05/09/2026

Up to 160 beds across Far North Queensland are taken every day by people who do not need hospital care.

Around 80 to 90 of them are living with dementia. Cairns Hospital's own geriatrician says that is close to three wards standing still.

CHHHS confirms it averages 120 patients at any time waiting for placement. Some have been there beyond 200 days.

That is not a nursing problem. It is a policy failure, and nurses are absorbing it through violence, unsafe ratios and burnout.

We have a fix on the table with the Minister: put doctors back into aged care so residents stop being sent to ED in the first place. Modelling says it saves $1.4 billion over four years.

Fund the beds. Fund the doctors. Stop making nurses carry it.

🔗 Report via the Cairns Post: https://hubs.ly/Q04wFxvL0

03/09/2026

NPAQ President Kara Thomas wrote to the Queensland Health Minister, the Director-General, and the Minister for Women.

Submission 1 carried this account from a Queensland nurse:

“I have emailed my manager regarding my taking reproductive leave, and her response was to come to her office and explain. Disclosing the reason for me taking reproductive leave is such a stigma.”

This is not an isolated experience. Nurses across Queensland are being denied legitimate leave, asked to disclose personal medical details, and now can't even see their Reproductive Health Leave balance in the HR system.

If this has happened to you, please share your story. It takes a few minutes and responses can be anonymous.

Survey: https://hubs.la/Q04wD-g90

Read more: https://hubs.la/Q04wD-mJ0

Every story counts.

03/09/2026

🩺 NPAQ is proud to sponsor the Standing Strong Nursing Summit on Friday, 3 October!

A day dedicated to nurses and midwives — built around wellbeing, resilience, and professional growth. Come find our table on the day and say hello!

⏰ Early-bird pricing closes at midnight, 3 September — don't miss out.

🎟️ [https://hubs.la/Q04wrrm70]

If you’ve ever left a nursing shift thinking “this isn’t safe or fair,” this summit gives you tools to influence culture with confidence.

27/08/2026

The Prince Charles Hospital inquest has heard the mental health unit still has "a major problem with bed capacity".

The inquest into a cluster of three patient deaths at the hospital between May and December 2023 heard that evidence from a treating psychiatrist — despite improvements since.

This is a live Queensland patient safety matter, and it has clear staffing and governance dimensions. Bed capacity is not an abstraction to the nurses working those shifts. It determines whether a patient in crisis has somewhere safe to go.

Queensland members: has bed capacity in your unit changed? Tell us below or message us privately.

🔗 Report via ABC News: https://hubs.la/Q04vkGb-0

If this raises issues for you, support is available: Lifeline 13 11 14 | Nurse & Midwife Support 1800 667 877

26/08/2026

BREAKING NEWS: The Coalition have announced they oppose Labor's Bill to shut down the Red Union.

With the Greens already against it, and several crossbench MLCs opposed too, the Government now faces a historic loss on the Bill in the Upper House.

Watch the remarks at a press conference today from Shadow Minister Jade Benham and Red Union Spokesman Edward Schuller.

Join our fight here: https://hubs.la/Q04vkGMx0

26/08/2026

📢 Queensland graduates — the application round is open.

The Queensland Health nursing and midwifery graduate program application round runs through August–September 2026. It's open to those who graduated after July 2024, or who finish before December 2026.

If that's you — or someone you know — don't leave it to the last week. Applications close within the round.

Know a final-year nursing or midwifery student? Tag them or share this post. 💙

👉 How to apply: https://hubs.la/Q04vkFJb0

21/08/2026

The Victorian Labor Government is attempting to shut down independent unions which refuse to fund their political campaigns.

Just three months out from an election, they are stripping workers of their right to freely associate. This is a politically motivated attack which must be fought.

Join our fight and take action. More information below!

Victoria's Associations Incorporation Reform Amendment Bill 2026 would let the Government decide which workers' associations may exist. Act before 26 August.