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Katie Woolf spoke with Nursing Union NT Branch Secretary Cath Hatcher · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Mix one oh four point nine three
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  Speaker 1: sixty Now, as we heard on the show on Monday,
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Territories Australian Nursing and midwif Free Federation calling
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  Speaker 1: upon those running the Howard Springs Quarantine Facility to stop
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  Speaker 1: using the PCR tests and recommence the rapid antigen testing
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  Speaker 1: nasal swabs, which are of course, which had been used
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  Speaker 1: at the Howard Springs Quarantine Center for the past seven
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  Speaker 1: months in conjunction with the other weekly swabs. Now, the
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  Speaker 1: head of the Northern Territory Australian Nursing and Midwiffree Federation,
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  Speaker 1: Kath Hatcher, joins me on the line right now.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Kath.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, Good morning listeners.
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  Speaker 2: Kath, thanks so much for joining us. Now.
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  Speaker 1: You were due to meet with the Health Minister late yesterday.
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  Speaker 1: How did that meeting go?
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  Speaker 3: I ended up having two meetings yesterday afternoon, Katie, which
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  Speaker 3: was good. I had one with doctor Charles Paine and
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  Speaker 3: the Chief Nurse and Midwifree Officer misch Hill and the
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  Speaker 3: Director of Nursing from Howard Springs Facility. So we agreed
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  Speaker 3: to disagree in replacing the PCR saliva tests with the
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  Speaker 3: rapid antigen test. But I asked, we don't want to
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  Speaker 3: agree to disagree. We would like to be on the
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  Speaker 3: same time line and the same wavelength. I guess however,
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  Speaker 3: I did ask because I knew that they weren't going
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  Speaker 3: to budge in stopping using the PCR saliva because that
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  Speaker 3: is a recommendation from their National Advisory Board. So I
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  Speaker 3: asked that every employee has a right to choice at
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  Speaker 3: their work, and I've asked for the staff, not just
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  Speaker 3: nursing staff, but the all staff working at the Howard
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  Speaker 3: Spring Quarantine Facility to have available to them the rapid
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  Speaker 3: antigen test kits that they can use in conjunction with
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  Speaker 3: the PCR daily saliva test. Right, And they said that
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  Speaker 3: they would get some kits for their staff to use
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  Speaker 3: if they wish to.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, So that sounds like it could be a good
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  Speaker 1: outcome cast that they have agreed that they will make
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  Speaker 1: sure that there are some of those rapid antigen tests
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  Speaker 1: out there for staff.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, so I'm very happy with the outcome. It just
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  Speaker 3: means that the staff who wish to use the rapid
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  Speaker 3: antigen test kits will need to do the daily PCR
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  Speaker 3: saliva test in conjunction with the PCR weekly NASO far
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  Speaker 3: and dual swap, so they will need to do two
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  Speaker 3: tests daily, but one the simple nasal swab is the
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  Speaker 3: rapid antigen test and a simple collection of saliva is
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  Speaker 3: the PCR saliva so it's not a very invasive one,
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  Speaker 3: unlike the NASO faran dual TCR weekly test which is
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  Speaker 3: more invasive. So I am quite happy about the outcome
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  Speaker 3: that the staff will have the option of using both
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  Speaker 3: if they wish to.
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  Speaker 1: And kas did the Health Minister agree to this as well?
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  Speaker 3: Yes she did. She took the advice that doctor Payne
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  Speaker 3: and the Chief Nurse and midw Free Officer had in
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  Speaker 3: discussion with us at the A and MSNT that they
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  Speaker 3: were happy for the kids to be available and we
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  Speaker 3: are going to over the next few days exchange our
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  Speaker 3: research between the Chief Health Office and the an m
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  Speaker 3: F and t the research that we have the research
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  Speaker 3: they have. They also going to get the research that
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  Speaker 3: the NCCTRC had undertaken through osmactine the last seven months
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  Speaker 3: and how many false positive they had over that time,
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  Speaker 3: and then we are going to talk with the Health
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  Speaker 3: Minister again towards the end of the week.
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  Speaker 2: And have your members.
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  Speaker 1: Have you had the opportunity at this stage to advise
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  Speaker 1: your members that this is the outcome that you've been
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  Speaker 1: able to achieve.
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  Speaker 3: No, So I'm in the midst of writing communication to
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  Speaker 3: them at the moment, so they will have that shortly.
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  Speaker 1: Well. There could be a few of them listening this
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  Speaker 1: morning as well, hopefully, and hopefully they're.
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  Speaker 2: Happy to hear this. I know that you'd said.
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  Speaker 1: To me earlier in the week that you couldn't rule out,
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  Speaker 1: like for you personally, that you couldn't rule out industrial
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  Speaker 1: action when we spoke on Monday.
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  Speaker 2: Is that off the cards now?
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  Speaker 3: Not totally, but you know it would be less than
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  Speaker 3: one percent. But to get industrial action, we need guidance
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  Speaker 3: from the Fair Work Commission and also guidance from the
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  Speaker 3: members to wish to see if that's the way we
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  Speaker 3: want to go or they want to go, I should say,
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  Speaker 3: because that was just out of myself, yep, out of
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  Speaker 3: me saying that, and I need to go back to
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  Speaker 3: the members and see if that's exactly what they wish
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  Speaker 3: to do, because I'm guided by them absolutely.
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  Speaker 2: And is that something that you will be doing, Kath.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, I will. I'm in the middle of doing a
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  Speaker 3: survey to the members and they can respond back through
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  Speaker 3: that and hopefully early next week will have a result.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, well, we might catch up with you again early
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  Speaker 1: next week to find out, you know, what the response
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  Speaker 1: has been, Kath, Can I just ask how soon are
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  Speaker 1: you anticipating that these tests, the rapid antigen test, the
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  Speaker 1: nasal swab, how soon are they going to be back
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  Speaker 1: out there at Howard Springs and available to staff.
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  Speaker 3: The director of nursing from Howard Springs Facility said they
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  Speaker 3: don't have any at the moment, but if they do
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  Speaker 3: put an order in today, they should have them by
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  Speaker 3: close the business on Friday.
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  Speaker 1: Excellent, and no doubt there's going to be a lot
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  Speaker 1: of the staff out there who will probably feel pretty
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  Speaker 1: much more comfortable, I'm assuming based on our earlier conversations
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  Speaker 1: with this outcome.
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  Speaker 3: I'm hoping so yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Katie, oh kav thank you so very much for your
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  Speaker 1: time this morning and earlier in the week, and we'll
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  Speaker 1: try to catch up with you again next week and
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  Speaker 1: find out how that survey has gone and the result
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  Speaker 1: of the survey.
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  Speaker 3: Great, thank you very much, Katie.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: That is Kath Hatcher there from the Northern terrat trees,
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  Speaker 1: Australian nursing and midwif Free Federation does sound as though
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  Speaker 1: it is a good outcome for everybody out there if
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  Speaker 1: they are able to by Friday. By the end of Friday,
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  Speaker 1: hopefully have some of those rapid antigen nasal swab tests
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  Speaker 1: out there, so that those staff who are concerned about
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  Speaker 1: the testing changes are able to have that ease of
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  Speaker 1: mind I think in terms of having that additional measure
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  Speaker 1: in place if they choose to use it. If you're
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  Speaker 1: keen to get in contact with US today eight nine
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  Speaker 1: four one one O four nine