Nursing reports

15 October 2012: The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) is dismayed to learn of the closure of an important youth health Service. WAVES is a one stop youth health service that provides a range of health and social services to more than 3000 young people in New Plymouth.

NZNO associate professional services manager, Hilary Graham-Smith says, “Continuous funding for innovative, wrap-around services, such as WAVES, is an ongoing problem with such services often attaining set-up funding but with no long-term funding commitment despite meeting hard to reach populations.  NZNO has seen time and again new services meeting particular population needs abandoned despite quality outcomes. Cutting funding to WAVES flies in the face of the government initiatives for youth health and wellbeing announced this year.” 

“The Government clearly signalled that youth mental health and an increased responsiveness to youth health issues was a priority. And yet, less than six months since the announcement, youth heath services are being cut.”

“WAVES is an excellent example of innovative and responsive primary health care provided by health care professionals with significant expertise and experience of working with young people.  Health services need to be available and accessible for everyone and evidence shows that ‘mainstream’ health care does not work for young people.”

“That’s why one stop health services like WAVES are so important. It is vital that we have youth-friendly services for young people that address their physical needs but also support them through a time in their lives when they are most vulnerable – the transition from childhood to adulthood,”  Hilary Graham-Smith says.

“Where is the commitment to the health and wellbeing of children and young people in Aotearoa New Zealand?”

11 October 2012: The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) strongly opposes the further recruitment of US physician assistants.

NZNO professional services manager, Susanne Trim says, "We are disappointed that following a flawed and poorly evaluated 'demonstration' at just one District Health Board more US health workers are being funded and recruited to work in rural New Zealand. There are New Zealand trained specialty registered nurses and nurse practitioners who do similar work but who have not been considered for these funded positions.”

“There is no evidence that the physician assistant role is necessary in New Zealand, nor has any analysis been made of the financial or wider workforce costs of introducing this new practitioner role.”

“New Zealand is a small country. The case has not been made for the introduction of new, narrowly focussed health practitioner roles. Conversely the case has been made for flexible health practitioners with broad scopes of practice. Nursing scopes of practice are broad and provide great flexibility. Policy makers and Health Workforce New Zealand need to recognise this and support the best use of nurses and all existing health practitioner scopes before investing scarce health dollars in the introduction of new and narrowly focussed roles,” Susanne Trim says.

“This demonstration should not be proceeding without first establishing the need and considering the range of options (including nursing) available to meet that need. NZNO questions why Health Workforce New Zealand is funding foreign recruits and not funding nurse practitioners, who have a minimum of eight years experience and post graduate education. It is time these questioned were answered.”

11 October 2012: The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) believes the Government’s White Paper for Vulnerable Children is a good start but has serious concerns regarding its focus on the ‘problem’ and not on its prevention.

NZNO is concerned that there is little mention of the role of nurses in the prevention, identification and interventions suggested for vulnerable children. Evidence suggests nurse intervention is one of the most successful elements of any programme to address the needs of vulnerable children and how nurses will be effectively utilised is glaringly absent from the White Paper. Who better than a nurse to assist in the nurturing of physically, mentally, and developmentally healthy and successful children?

NZNO nursing researcher and policy adviser, Dr Jill Clendon says, “It is deeply concerning that nurses are not listed in the examples of members of the core or wider workforce who work with children. This is a serious omission and undermines the work that the nursing profession, particularly child health nurses and nurses in primary health care such as Plunket and Tamariki Ora nurses are doing on a daily basis.”

“Assessment and co-ordination are core skills of frontline health professionals such as nurses. The Family Nurse Partnership programme is identified as one of the most effective child abuse and maltreatment prevention programmes worldwide, but there is no mention of how this may be utilised in New Zealand.”

“The White Paper mentions child poverty as a contributor to child vulnerability but it ‘passes the buck’ when it comes to addressing this issue. Addressing child poverty should be a priority element of any plan to support vulnerable children and it is deeply concerning that the White Paper does not make a stronger statement in this regard. Preventing child poverty will also reduce child vulnerability,” Dr Clendon says.

“It is disappointing that the White Paper fails to address the wider issue of poverty and does little to prevent the future vulnerability of generations to come. It is disappointing that once again nurses are rendered invisible for the work they do.”

30 September 2012:

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) has completed research into the experiences of Internationally Qualified Nurses (IQNs) working in New Zealand.

Dr Jill Clendon, NZNO’s Nursing Policy Advisor/Researcher; “The key findings were that discrimination against IQNs  is present in New Zealand workplaces – particularly from patients, although nurses and management feature highly,”

“The experiences of IQNs in NZ are similar to experiences of IQNs anywhere in the world and can be partially (but not fully) explained as a feature of the ‘settling in’ process (acculturation),”

“Workplaces, teams and individual nurses must recognise the challenges facing IQNs and support them to transition to the New Zealand workplace successfully, in particular recognising the prior skills and experience they bring to New Zealand,”

“New Zealand is reliant on this workforce to ensure there are sufficient nurses to provide the care required to meet population health needs and we must ensure we do not lose them because their expectations are not met or experiences are poor,”

Clendon concludes by commenting that; “Nurses are a highly educated and mobile profession. In a global economy, NZ nurses also find employment and gain nursing experience in other countries. We must become and remain an employing country of choice, or we will continue to lose NZ educated nurses and fail to attract or keep IQNs.”

31 August 2012:

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO), the union and professional voice for nurses, is shocked that Capital and Coast DHB (CCDHB) is considering removing the last after-hours health service in the Porirua area.

The DHB made the decision to investigate the possibility of replacing after hours services with a roving paramedic service for over 100 000 people at a secret Board meeting and are not considering any other options.

NZNO organiser, Laura Thomas says, “We can’t help but wonder what would happen if the DHB decided to do the same in Wellington. That wouldn't even be entertained. The DHB seems to think that it’s ok to disadvantage a low socio-economic population with high health needs though.”

“Residents in the region north of Wellington suffer some of the highest rates of preventable illness in New Zealand and yet their current after-hours health service is not free and now the DHB is trying to take it away altogether.”

“NZNO urges the DHB to ensure everyone in their catchment can access the health care they need when and where they need it, not downgrade it,” Thomas says.

“Demand on the current service is increasing and the DHB should be facilitating easier access to it.”

“We are also sceptical of the reasons for the change put forward by the DHB. It is our understanding that the current after-hours service is entirely cost-effective and that cutting it would only increase pressure on an already stretched emergency department at Wellington Hospital.”

“NZNO will be continuing to urge the DHB to consider proposals that would prioritise the health of the residents of Kapiti and Porirua. We will not let 100 000 people become the victims of short-sighted ‘cost-cutting’ measures.”

30 August 2012:

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) took part in the Living Wage campaign launch in Wellington today.

Attendees at the launch heard from workers who slave all hours and still don’t make enough to pay the bills. The minimum wage is not enough. As Dr Don Matheson said at the launch, “The minimum wage is a dying wage and it is morally and ethically unacceptable. We need a living wage.”

NZNO researcher and policy adviser, Dr Jill Clendon says, “Dr Matheson was talking in relation to the effects of poverty on health. The social determinants of health prove that poverty is the root cause of much ill health and inequality in this country.”

“Those who are struggling to survive on incredibly low wages are also the people who face barriers to accessing health care, education and other social services when and where they need them.”

“NZNO advocates for fair pay and safe working conditions for all its members, including those who work in the residential aged care sector. Aged care workers are some of the most vulnerable workers in our society. It is shameful that the skilled work they perform with love and respect is often paid at the minimum wage rate of $13.50 an hour.”

“Supporting the Living wage Campaign is part of a nationwide push to redress the problem of poverty and everything that stems from it,” Clendon says.

23 August 2012:

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation congratulates Health Ministers Tony Ryall and Tariana Turia on their firm stand on tobacco control in the face of British American Tobacco's (BAT) campaign to advertise and lobby against plain packaging of cigarettes which it claims is "an assault on intellectual property".

NZNO kaiwhakahaere and spokesperson for the Smokefree Coalition, Kerri Nuku says, “It was great to hear the Minister of Health Tony Ryall tell the giant tobacco company PR machine that they are wasting the hundreds of thousands of dollars they are intending to spend trying to change plans for reducing the appeal of tobacco through plain packaging.”

“NZNO fully agrees with the wise decision to put the health of New Zealanders before commercial interests.”

“For too long we have accepted the death and harm caused by tobacco. Tobacco companies have known their product causes cancer for over 60 years and yet they are still trying to hook new smokers with their advertising. Plain packaging will take some of that power away,” Nuku says.

Tobacco smoking kills 5000 New Zealanders every year, including deaths due to second-hand smoke.

12 July 2012:

As one of the 80 organisations to contribute their submission to Unicef to collate, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) strongly supports the themes outlined in the ‘What will it take’ paper. It is essential that the government take note of the key messages in the document as they develop their White Paper for children.

NZNO Nursing Policy Adviser/Researcher, Dr Jill Clendon says, “The well-being of all children in New Zealand must be a priority and no child should miss out on important services. It is not ok for the Government to target “vulnerable” children at the expense of all other children.”

“Every single child in this country must be provided for. The Government must focus on addressing underlying inequities and particularly child poverty.”

“Nurses are at the forefront of children’s health providing care, supporting families and leading innovations to address child health. They see poverty and the effects of poverty on children everyday. It is essential that the Government gets this right and listens to those that work with children,” Clendon says.

5 July 2012:

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) is concerned about the findings of a University of Otago study that reports almost 20 per cent of women were likely to be deterred from accessing healthcare by money pressures.

NZNO associate professional services manager, Hilary Graham-Smith says “Everyone in Aotearoa should be able to access healthcare when they need it. It is extremely concerning to hear that the cost of healthcare means women are not getting the health care they need, when they need it.”

“This study shows that even in the 21st century women are still putting themselves last when there is not enough money to go around.”

“Kiwi children are four times more likely to be living under the poverty line if they are being raised by a single parent and with most single parent families headed by women, a lack of access to health care is a recipe for chronic illness and deprivation for women and children alike,” Ms Graham-Smith says.

“Not surprisingly, the longer people leave it before they get health care the more expensive that care is. Turning up at the hospital emergency room with heart disease due to rheumatic fever is many times more expensive than being treated early at a sore throat clinic.”

NZNO would like to see a health system where everyone has timely and affordable access to healthcare and we believe that nursing provides the key to a cost effective and efficient approach. There are long term social and economic benefits to be gained through ensuring equal access, and huge costs in continuing as we are.”

5 July 2012:

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) and Te Runanga o Aotearoa NZNO agree with Waipareira Trust statements today that Māori and iwi providers “get ‘second class’ treatment compared with non-Māori contractors”.

NZNO has been working with Māori and iwi providers to achieve funding equity within the sector since 2007.
Despite intense and continued lobbying, the presentation of an 11,000-signature petition to the Minister of Health in 2008 calling for the extra funding, a joint employer/NZNO oral submission to the Health Select Committee in April 2009 and its unanimous recommendation for a working party to examine the issue it was rejected by the Government.

NZNO Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku says, “It is unacceptable that nurses and other health workers who work for Māori and iwi health providers are paid up to 25 percent less than their colleagues who work for DHBs. The Government talks about the importance of improving health outcomes for Māori and yet they are comfortable paying our nurses less and expecting them to do more.”

NZNO industrial adviser Chris Wilson agrees, “Most of the Māori and iwi health providers we work with are committed to achieving fair funding and fair pay. What we need now is a commitment from the funders that Māori and iwi providers will be funded at the same level as mainstream providers.”

“Nurses, kaimahi hauora and other health care workers deserve to be valued appropriately and equitably for the work they do. NZNO will continue to work closely with funders and providers to create a health system that is fair for all New Zealanders.”