Western Health’s Bank and Pool fulfill the vital function of being a supplementary workforce to support the nurses and midwives within our clinical wards and departments by relieving leave and filling vacancies.

Bank and Pool Enquiries : Who to contact

If you are a current Bank or Pool staff member, your direct line manager is the NMWU Manager Louise Nicol and can be contacted on NMWU@wh.org.au

If you have a question regarding allocations of work enquiry, please contact the NMWU Allocations Team between 0600 and 2100 hours on 03 8345 6637.

The Hospital Coordinators are only to be contacted out of hours for urgent matters e.g. withdrawing from shift or personal leave.

Rights, Responsibilities & Expectations  

  • Clinical areas have a right to be supported by qualified staff who work within their scope of practice
  • Nursing and Midwifery Bank and Nurse Pool staff have a responsibility to confidently provide an adequate level of patient care wherever they are allocated to work clinically within Western Health
  • Nursing and Midwifery Bank and Nurse Pool staff have a responsibility to cooperate with all clinical areas they are allocated to work and to conduct themselves in accordance with Western Health policies & procedures
  • Nursing and Midwifery Bank and Nurse Pool staff have a professional responsibility to maintain and develop their clinical skills and to work within the scope of their practice
  • Nursing and Midwifery Bank and Pool staff have a responsibility to maintain their complete their annual mandatory competencies and professional development plan in line with Western Health policies and procedures

Induction and Clinical Support

Each time Bank or Pool staff work in a new department, they are required to be orientated by ward staff and complete an orientation checklist via a QR Code. 

Please scan the QR code located across all Western Health wards and departments, to access the Orientation Checklist. Alternatively, the Orientation Checklist QR code can be located in your Nurse handbook.

It is the Bank or Pool staff member’s responsibility to identify to the nurse/midwife in-charge that it is their first shift working in the area.

Internal transfer to Bank

If you wish to transfer to Bank from your permanent contract you will need to do the following;

  • Inform your direct line manager that you would like to transfer to Bank when terminating from your permanent position (make sure your communication with your manager is clear that you do not wish to terminate employment)
  • Send an email to NMWU@wh.org.au making this request after you have had discussion with your manager
  • Ensure your manager is aware that you wish to transfer and does not commence a termination process based on your resignation from their area
  • You will receive a reply email requesting that you complete the application/declaration form, provide evidence of current working with children check and current completed competencies
  • The Nursing & Midwifery Workforce Unit team will request a recommendation from your direct line manager
  • Once your information and the recommendation from your manager is received, you will be notified that your application to transfer to bank has been successful

If you wish to work ‘part-time extra’ shifts outside your home cost centre

If you are working part-time and wish to work additional shifts outside your home cost centre you need to:

  • Discuss with the home cost centre manager and request they send an email to NMWU@wh.org.au advising us that they agree you can work additional shifts and identify the areas your expertise suggests would be suitable to work in.
  • The Nursing & Midwifery Workforce Unit team will update your Health-e Workforce Solutions profile to reflect that you can work outside your home cost centre
  • You must submit availabilities to work in Health-e Workforce Solutions  to be booked for work and you can update your profile to identify preferred areas of work.

Are you interested in working ‘casual’ shifts while you are on unpaid parental leave

If you are ready to return to work however are unable to commit to a roster, you might like to consider working ‘casual’ shifts while on approved unpaid parental leave.

To meet requirements for this option, you will need to:

  • Be able to work at least once a fortnight
  • Maintain currency of your mandatory competencies
  • Not be receiving any parental leave payment

To apply, contact your Unit Manager with a documented request to work casually while on parental leave and an application for extension of parental leave (where appropriate).

If at anytime you are unable to work for more than 8 weeks, you must contact your manager and change back to permanent status as your continuity of service for Long Service Leave will be broken if you do not work for a 12 week time period while on a ‘casual’ contract.

Information about working on Bank and Pool

  • Keeping your contact details current
    It is the responsibility of all staff to ensure that their contact details are kept up to date.  Any change should be recorded on the Personal Details Form (copies available on the intranet or through People & Culture page) and forwarded to People & Culture.
    You should also update your contact details immediately in Health-e Workforce Solutions by logging in and updating your staff details online.
  • Identification cards
    It is expected that you wear your ID card at all times when at work and you will need this for swipe access to areas.
    Western Health’s Security co-ordinate ID photos, cards and swipe access.  ID cards are collected from either Footscray or Sunshine Security offices.
    Please note that they cannot be mailed out or collected by another person.
  • Dress Code

    Staff should always promote and present a professional image that is smart, neat and tidy.

    Clothing and footwear needs to meet occupational health and safety requirements, including closed non-slip footwear.

    Western Health staff can purchase corporate uniforms through our supplier.

  • Pay and pay queries
    You will be paid in accordance with the information that is recorded on RosterOn so it is important that you check your timecard to ensure that worked shift details are correct for the pay fortnight.
    Bank shifts will be entered into RosterOn as they are worked i.e. on the day.  Pool shifts are rostered and will be adjusted on the day worked if necessary.
    If corrections are required within the pay fortnight and if corrections are required after you have been paid, please send an email to NMWU@wh.org.au and we will follow up the corrections for you.
    Other Pay queries can be directed to the Pay Office on 9342 8040 or email PayHelp@ssg.org.au
     
    Payslips are emailed directly to staff Western Health email addresses.  To set up this service, please email your request asap to payslips@ssg.org.au  include your employee number and your Western Health email address.
  • Reporting adverse events
    If you experience an adverse event or OH&S incident, please ensure you complete a Riskman and distribute to the Manager of the department where the incident has occurred.  Please make sure that you also include your NMWU Manager Louise Nicol in the riskman too.
    When you initially set up your account, nominating the NMWU Manager as your direct line manager will  ensure this always occurs.
    Doing this assists with the follow up process ensuring relevant managers have the information they need to investigate and where necessary provide you with support.
  • Agency shifts

    As employees of Western Health, staff cannot work a shift at any Western Health site as an agency nurse or midwife

  • Pool Rosters and Allocation
    Pool rosters are developed in advance in line with enterprise agreement requirements and Western Health Business Rules for Rostering Practice.  Rosters may include rotations onto night duty.
    Requests for shifts can be submitted on Roster-On or via the NMWU Team. Please email NMWU@wh.org.au. Requests should be limited to three per pay fortnight.
    Leave requests are to be submitted to the NMWU Team via NMWU@wh.org.au, well in advance of the date of the leave commencing.
    Allocation of Pool is coordinated by the Nursing & Midwifery Workforce Unit (in hours) and the After Hours Administrators (outside of NMWU operational hours).
    Pool staff are allocated to vacancies across all Western Health sites and services.
    Pool staff should check their Health-e Workforce Solutions (HeWS) calendar to confirm where they have been allocated to work.  This may be updated according to organisational need so should be checked prior to leaving home to come to work.
    Instructions on how to use HeWS can be found here 
  • Personal Leave notification
    When Pool staff are unwell and need to take personal leave (sick leave), they must notify the health service as early as possible.
    Please contact the NMWU allocations team directly (0600 to 2100hrs) or out of hours contact the After Hours Administrator (AHA) at the relevant hospital where you have been booked to work.
    Personal leave certificates or statutory declarations must be presented / emailed to wh.allocations@mh.org.au prior to the end of the pay period.
  • Bank staff availability
    Bank staff must lodge and/or modify their availability to work in their personal calendar on Health-e Workforce Solutions (HeWS).
    Bank staff are expected to modify their availability when they are no longer able to work to ensure that they are not being contacted unnecessarily to work shifts.  If you are already booked to work a shift and can no longer work, then you must contact the Nursing & Midwifery Workforce Unit Allocations Team directly (0600 to 2100hrs) or out of hours contact the After Hours Administrator (AHA) at the relevant hospital where you have been booked to work.
    Instructions on how to use HeWS can be found here
  • Mandatory Training and Performance Development Plans
    Completing annual mandatory training and Performance Development plans are a requirement of all Western Health nursing and midwifery staff.
    As an employee, it is your responsibility to ensure completion each year. Annual completion is a requirement for casual staff to remain eligible to work shifts.
    Evidence of training (not completed in WeLearn) and completed PDPs should be sent to NMWU@wh.org.au.
    The Bank and Pool staff Orientation Checklist has been converted into electronic format accessible via QR code. Once the QR Code is scanned, it will take you to the relevant form. You can scan on any device. Once completed, these will be automatically emailed through to the NMWU team. Please refer to your Nurse Handbook for further details.
  • Extended Periods of Leave
    In the event where a casual staff member will not be able to lodge availability for an extended period of time (4 weeks or greater), the Nursing & Midwifery Workforce Unit team must be notified to ensure we are aware.
    Extended periods of no work may result in contract termination if you have not communicated your period of leave to us.
    Casual staff wishing to apply for maternity leave must do so in line with Western Health Policy.
  • Education and Professional Development
    The Nursing & Midwifery Workforce Unit is responsible for the coordination of the orientation and ongoing clinical performance of all Bank and Pool staff to ensure staff clinical performance and development objectives are met.
    Working as part of Bank and Pool is acknowledged as being challenging because of the continually changing nature of your work environment and required skill set.  For these reasons it is appropriate where staff have had little or no exposure to particular clinical environments that they familiarise themselves with the clinical learning expectations of areas they are working.
    This can be achieved by discussion with the senior staff and linking in with the education teams specific to those areas.