Mr Aldrich, clinical nurse specialist at the Albury Emergency Department, says nursing has changed dramatically since he embarked on his medical career 21 years ago, often for the better but, like his thousands of patients, there are matters that need urgent attention.

"In my time it has certainly changed significantly," he said. "We used to see a lot of trauma, cardiac arrests, used to get all of the drunken brawls down Dean Street, but a lot of that has disappeared because of a lot of things like airbags, and ambulance skilling, camera surveillance, police presence, all of those things.

"The majority of what we see now is more medically unwell people with a range of complaints and that can be everything from COVID to chest pain to diabetes - we've also seen a lot more mental health patients during COVID."

He said isolation and depression and concerns over lifestyle changes stemming from lost income has created a lot of stress for many in the community.

Low pay has always been an issue for nurses, but little action to address problems such as heavy workloads is another.

"The pressing need for a new hospital issue is a big one," he said. "We are certainly well, well under capacity for the type and number of patients we're seeing.

"We need to address the workload of nurses and introduce set patient-staff ratios which are mandated in every other state except NSW.

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"Our management are very good at trying to maintain our workloads fairly and they support us wholeheartedly, but there's nothing inherent within the award that this is what what ratios will be, so there has to be the funding to match it.

"We see a large amount of people unable to access their GPs for one reason or another, mainly because of the GP workload - they can't get appointments quickly enough."

He said while alcohol-fuelled violence has decreased, problems with other drugs have spiked.

"What we have seen increase is the effects of the some of the more illicit drugs such as ice," he said.

"Ice problems are not confined to metropolitan areas. Despite these problems, I love what I do - I can't imagine doing anything else - there's certainly more positives than negatives. We meet some wonderful people and it's about doing the best for these people."

International Nurses Day on Wednesday is an annual event celebrated on the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth in 1820. The day coincides with the name change of the Albury Wodonga Public Health Unit to the Ovens Murray Public Health Unit.

Executive director Lucie Shanahan said that the new name better reflected the catchment the OMPHU supports.

"We service the five local government areas of Alpine, Indigo, Towong, Wangaratta and Wodonga and the new name better reflects our service catchment," Dr Shanahan said.

"While some of our work to date has included the public health response to the COVID-19 outbreak, we are looking forward to focusing on other areas of public health, which include the Japanese encephalitis outbreak and preparing our communities for what is expected to be a severe flu season. We are proud of the links we have made with the community and look forward to strengthening these further.

"We look forward to working with the Department of Health to design this new service and continue to respond to community needs."

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