The Minister of Health must protect the integrity of the Nursing Council as the regulator for registered nurses, Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO says.
The call follows an announcement by the Education Minister Erica Stanford that professional standard setting functions for teachers will be moved from the Teaching Council to the Ministry of Education. The Council will also be reduced from 13 to about seven to nine members with the number of elected teacher representatives halved.
NZNO Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku says Simeon Brown must reassure nurses that the Government doesn’t have similar plans for the Te Kaunihera Tapuhi o Aotearoa Nursing Council of New Zealand.
"The Nursing Council has a similar make-up to the Teaching Council. It performs invaluable functions such as registering nurses, setting scopes of practice, hearing complaints and setting ongoing competency requirements.
"It’s integrity and functions must be protected. It is also vital that elected nurses remain on the Nursing Council.
"The Coalition Government has form here after Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brook van Velden removed worker representation from the WorkSafe board," she says.
The changes come at a time when the scope of nurses and nurse practitioners is being threatened by proposed changes to the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act, Kerri Nuku says.
"The Health Minister says he values nurses. But the work of nurses’ risks being undermined by the introduction of an anaesthetic technician workforce and the scope of nurse practitioners’ risks being undermined by the introduction of physician associates," she says.