Health care is arguably the most pressing concern of the public as we grow closer to the election on 7 November 2026. But we need to fight on to achieve our goals and aspirations.

On the back of our Annual General Meeting  (AGM) and conference in the last week of September, and the looming election , it is fitting to look at what we are ‘fighting on’ for.

At the AGM a remit was put forward and supported by delegates to go out to all members to vote on. It is seeking Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO members support for a change of government. The opportunity to vote on this remit is now out, and it is worth considering the delegate debate on the remit. 

AGM delegate discussion identified the multitude of political interventions in health under the current Coalition Government that have attacked Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the governments proposed removal of good-employer requirements from employment law, the watered down the Health and Safety at Work Act, how pay equity was ripped away overnight, the threatened regulation of the nursing profession, the increasing inequities in the social determinants of health (healthy homes, jobs, education, social protection), the reduced access and affordability to primary and tertiary health care, and putting budget ahead of safe and timely care through a sustained recruitment freeze due to a lack of appropriate levels of funding, and so much more. 

Delegates also identified the need for NZNO to maintain its position as politically neutral so that we can hold any government accountable by challenging constructively, disrupting respectively, and leading unapologetically. We must fight on, not just AGAINST the policies of the current government that are decimating the infrastructure of our public health system but just as importantly, FOR ourselves so that we can influence the change we need to see. We do this by calling on all political parties to: 

• Honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi 
• Fix the crisis in primary health 
• Stop privatisation  
• Fund and staff the health system to meet patient need 

This is our Vote for Health campaign leading into the election . Its focus is on meeting patient need, patient safety, accessible, affordable, and equitable health care. Underpinning this  kōrero, is the fact that without our members, the whole health system would collapse. And some days it seems that we are nearly in that place. 

The underfunding of the health system has perpetuated a government directed and employer implemented nurse and health care assistant recruitment freeze which is evidenced by increasing numbers of patient deaths and avoidable harm (Association of Surgical Ward Nurse Staffing With Postoperative Mortality and Failure to Rescue). Nursing care is central to surveillance, escalation and rescue. If we are not there, then we fail to rescue our patients when they need us most. 

Polished narratives by the Government, employers their nurse leader spokespeople, obscure the stark reality faced by patients and health workers alike.  Let’s stop calling it short staffing when it happens every single shift. When unsafe staffing becomes normal, it is no longer an unexpected shortage – it is a business decision. Patients and nurses are the ones absorbing the consequences. 

Our health system must transform from one that reacts after harm occurs to one that actively prevents it. Helping others is a strong motivation for stepping into ever widening workforce nursing gaps but when does it become an enabler of those who use that motivation to their own ends? When do we say NO MORE? 

Ward 5 Gisborne nurses conducted the first Health and Safety strike on the 24 May 2023, after staff and patient safety had been ignored for over a year. This action is now being used by our union members, around the motu, to say No More. And so close to an election, finally there is discreet action on filling some of the gaps around the motu. 

But nurses, midwives and healthcare assistants should not have to go on strike for safe staffing and patient safety. It should be a given. We are at the point where we need to decide if we are going to continue to help paper over the widening gulf between care and patient safety or stop and do No More, to force change to occur. 

That change includes: 

• Legislated, enforceable, culturally safe nurse to patient ratios underpinned by a fit for purpose CCDM. 
• Jobs for all our New Graduates so they have real choice to stay rather than go. 
• Equitable financial support for undergraduates to complete their studies.  
• Pay equity and work conditions in every health sector and more… 

Then we will have the nurses we need to realise a health system where prevention is the priority to realise equitable health outcomes going forward. We must fight on. That is what democracy looks like. 

Ake, Ake, Ake.