Alicia Rodgers has worked at Nepean Hospital in Kingswood for 11 years and told 9news.com.au nurses in the NICU ward are being stretched thin as funded beds frequently exceed the safe staffing ratio.

Rodgers claimed the most vulnerable members of society – sick newborns – were being left behind by the state government.

Rodgers said the hospital also only has a part-time lactation consultant on staff for new mothers.

“We don’t want nurses or midwives who are tired and fatigued… people get very tired and get burnt out,” Rodgers added.

“We need people who are refreshed and ready to work.

“Ideally, none of them should have to be doing double shifts. That is something we really need to look at.”

Rodgers, along with her fellow colleagues in the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association, is calling on the NSW government today to take action on the ongoing staffing crisis.

An own-time rally will be held at Nepean Hospital in Kingswood today to ask the government to commit to more funding and staff.

“We are desperate to be able to provide the most safe and effective care possible,” Rodgers, who is the NSWNMA Nepean Hospital Branch Secretary, said.

“Our emergency departments have that commitment, our adult ICUs, our maternity units, our general wards, neonatal intensive care and special care nursery deserves that too.”