NSW Premier Says ICU Nurses ‘Up for the Challenge’ Despite Letter of Concern

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian speaks to the media during a press conference in Sydney, Australia, on Sept. 5, 2021. AAP Image/Brendon Thorne

New South Wales (NSW) Premier Gladys Berejiklean has said the vast majority of health professionals she’s spoken to were “up for the challenge” of managing a potential surge in COVID-19 patients when the Australian state begins to ease pandemic measures once 70-80 percent of residents are fully vaccinated.

This comes after News.com.au exclusively reported that hundreds of intensive care unit (ICU) nurses had drafted a letter to the NSW premier and state health minister, saying they were “extremely concerned” about their ability to “provide safe nursing care under the current staffing levels afforded by the NSW government to ICUs around the state.”