Nursing reports

New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 24 November 2023

The collective agreement ratified in August by members of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) who work for Te Whatu Ora will expire in less than a year and the union says these members have unfinished business with their employer.

NZNO Chief Executive Paul Goulter said NZNO Te Whatu Ora members are committed to continuing pressure for the nursing workforce to be valued, specifically around such issues as nurse-to-patient ratios, safe staffing levels, health and safety at work and meaningful pay and pay rises.

“Our Te Whatu Ora members will be attending around 40 paid union meetings (originally known as ‘stop works’) from 27 November to 1 December. The purpose of the meetings is to put the new Government and Te Whatu Ora on notice that they must increase funding to the health sector and fix the nursing shortage.”

The new Government is planning to release a mini-Budget in December that will shape public spending for the next three years, and Paul Goulter says Health needs to top the list of Government spending priorities in that mini-Budget.

“NZNO needs to be part of that conversation to help ensure everything is being done to secure 4000+ extra nurses and health care workers. Ultimately our patients will pay the price for hospitals that are continuously understaffed and under-resourced.”

Paul Goulter says the meetings will also mark the start of the campaign around the 2024 collective agreement and members will discuss how they will continue the fight for safe staffing in 2024.

“Te Whatu and the new Government must meet our demands in order to ensure the wellbeing of our staff, patients and health system.

“Te Whatu Ora has an obligation to provide a safe and properly staffed workplace and we intend to hold them to that obligation.”

He said that according to the Employment Relations Act, arrangements will be made with Te Whatu Ora to have enough staff on hand to keep health workplaces functioning during meeting times.

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Note to journalists:

• A copy of the meetings schedule is attached to this release.
• Journalists will not be able to attend meetings but may wish to interview NZNO members before or after meetings that have been arranged off-site. Members will be carrying placards and, in some cases, arriving at meetings by bus.
• Local member spokespeople are available for many of the regions where meetings are being held.

Media enquiries: Rob Zorn, NZNO Media and Communications Advisor: 027 431 2617 | media@nzno.org.nz

New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 12 October 2023

The President of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) wants people living in Aotearoa New Zealand to vote with health in mind on Saturday.

Anne Daniels, herself an emergency department nurse at Dunedin Hospital, said health should be just as important a consideration for voters this election as the cost of living and crime.

“Health has become somewhat of a “wicked problem” in Aotearoa New Zealand because the harms are rife and there is no short-term solution.

“We need to be voting people into power now who will set the groundwork for finding 4000 more nurses in a hurry, who will reduce costs and restore health justice by finding and employing more Māori and Pasifika nurses and who have the foresight to see that funding health properly now will save the system money and resources in the long run.”

Ms Daniels said she sees the results of underfunding and the under-prioritisation of health every day in her work and in her interactions around the country with nurse and other health worker members.

“People need to realise that the long wait times and the care rationing that are currently happening will just get worse and worse. This has serious implications for everyone needing health care.”

She said nurses know what’s needed to fix the problem: more nurses; pay and conditions that attract and retain nursing staff; nurse-to-patient ratios; and culturally appropriate care for Māori and Pasifika.

“Unfortunately some political parties don’t have a real grasp of these things and do not have policies that will address them.

“Parties proposing tax cuts or the dismantling of Te Aka Whai Ora (the Māori Health Authority), for example, don’t get it at all.

“These things would only create further barriers to people already struggling to access health care in their communities or who have to suffer long unhealthy waits in the emergency department.

“Health is a massive issue this election and I hope people will have that in mind when they choose which party and candidate to back on 14 October.”

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Media enquiries: Rob Zorn, NZNO Media and Communications Advisor: 027 431 2617 | media@nzno.org.nz

New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 5 October 2023

Nurses, midwives, health care assistants and kaimahi hauora will come to Manurewa from all over to Auckland to picket in support of safe staffing on Thursday 5 October.

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) members will congregate holding signs at 131 Hill Rd, Manurewa at 1.30pm and will also approach members of the public to talk about the importance of the health workforce this election.

Auckland NZNO delegate Ben Basevi said the point of the picket was to call on the public to vote for Health at the ballot box on 14 October.

“We are calling on the public to support those political parties that will commit to resolving the staffing crisis in health care, in particular the urgent need for 4000 more nurses.

“People, including our politicians, may not yet fully realise the impact the nursing shortage has on our health system and how this will affect their care, and the care of their loved ones and whānau when they need it.

“The incoming Government, no matter what its composition, must take urgent action to reduce the nursing shortage. That means making the profession attractive to new students, and addressing frontline needs to ensure we keep the nurses we already have.”

He said parties needed to develop policies around issues such as more Māori and Pasifika nurses so people get culturally appropriate care and need the health system less; funded free training for nursing students so they don’t start work with a massive debt; decent wages and Pay Parity across the health system so every nurse everywhere is equally valued; and legally mandated staff-to-patient ratios to help ensure the safety of nurses and the people they care for.

NZNO’s scorecard of political parties’ health policies* will be distributed from a stall at the picket and will also be handed to members of the public in one-on-one conversations.

“We’ll be encouraging people to enrol and vote with health foremost in their minds because we simply cannot carry on as we are,” Ben Basevi said.

“People need to enrol and vote for the good of their whānau and communities.”

The picket is expected to conclude at around 3.30pm.

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* NZNO’s political scorecard is available at: https://maranga-mai.nzno.org.nz/scorecard.

Media enquiries: Rob Zorn, NZNO Media and Communications Advisor: 027 431 2617 | media@nzno.org.nz

New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 3 October 2023

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) says the National Party’s new health policies announced today ring hollow because they don’t address the missing workforce needed to deliver them.

NZNO Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku said there was nothing new in what National announced and that the policies, while laudable in themselves, presupposed there were sufficient health staff available to deliver them.

“Increasing maternity services is a great idea, but how are you going to do that without the nurses and midwives to support new and expecting mothers?

“Increasing clinical training placements is also great, but what will National do to make nursing and other health worker training more attractive – other than student loan payoffs that come too late to really help struggling nursing students?”

Ms Nuku said recruiting and retaining nurses, midwives, health care assistants and kaimahi hauora is the ‘make or break’ behind any health policy and that National is conspicuously quiet on how it will urgently recruit 4000 nurses or respond to the needs of frontline staff so they will stay in their jobs.

“Christopher Luxon has said National ‘will be doing everything [they] can to boost the health workforce,’ but very little beyond that.

“What about funded free training for nursing students so they don’t start work with a massive debt in the first place? What about more Māori and Pasifika nurses so people receive culturally appropriate care and need health services less?

“What about decent wages and Pay Parity across the health system so every nurse everywhere is equally valued and earns the same according to their experience and qualifications? What about mandated staff-to-patient ratios to help ensure the safety of nurses and the people they care for?”

She said health should be at the top of discussion this election because the system is hanging by a thread and will fall apart unless more nurses are found and/or kept.

“That has serious implications for the health care we and our loved ones receive, and we need to be putting concrete solutions in place now. The best health policy in the world will fail miserably without the workforce in place to support it.”

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Media enquiries: Rob Zorn, NZNO Media and Communications Advisor: 027 431 2617 | media@nzno.org.nz

New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 13 September 2023

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) welcomes the plan to grow the health workforce announced by Health Minister Ayesha Verrall and Prime Minister Chris Hipkins today, but says even bolder action is required to fix the health crisis in Aotearoa New Zealand.

NZNO President Anne Daniels said there is much in the announced policy that resonates with what nurses have been campaigning for.

“The plan to grow the workforce for both doctors and nurses is laudable, as is the recognition that paying nurses and midwives well, and improving their working conditions, is crucial to retaining them.

“However, we need at least 4000 more nurses right now, as many are still leaving the profession or are due to retire. 700 per year starting next year is just not going to fix the problem quickly enough and nurses’ ability to provide adequate care will just continue to decline.

On the need for free training to attract more nursing students, Ms Daniels said she noted the plan includes opportunities at least for nurses to earn as they learn.

“That’s not free training but we look forward to clarification on exactly what it might mean.”

Ms Daniels said the plan to grow the Māori and Pasifika nursing workforce was also welcome and important.

“It is unjust and contrary to te Tiriti that we are unable to provide culturally appropriate care to Māori and Pasifika. This has left them disenfranchised from the health system, which costs us all more in the long run.

“More Māori nurses are essential to Māori having self-determination in health, and the skills and the cultural knowledge and experience Māori (and Pasifika) nurses bring with them is beyond value.

“But we want to see te Tiriti upheld in every area of the health system so those nurses are free to act in a culturally appropriate way across the entire context of their work.”

She said NZNO did not support increasing overseas recruitment of health professionals.

“Our focus should be on growing our own health workforce instead of poaching nurses from poorer countries where they are sorely needed. And if we remain overly dependent on internationally qualified nurses, we run the risk of having our supply cut off again should there be another global pandemic.”

However, Ms Daniels said she wanted to acknowledge the mahi of Health Minister Ayesha Verrall.

“I would like to thank the Minister for admitting there are serious problems in health and for her commitment to continue working with the sector to address those issues. NZNO is also keen for that dialogue to continue.”

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Media enquiries: Rob Zorn, NZNO Media and Communications Advisor: 027 431 2617 | media@nzno.org.nz

New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 8 September 2023

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) wants more detail from campaigning political parties about how they will urgently fund 4000 more nurses, especially those who are Māori and Pasifika.

NZNO Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku said at least 4000 nurses were needed tomorrow, but that any recruitment initiatives must be focused on having more Māori and Pasifika nurses, midwives and health care assistants in place.

“We have a health system based on western models from which many Māori and Pasifika people feel culturally alienated. This means they are much more likely to seek health care late, or not at all.

“That’s a tragedy, but denying Māori and Pasifika culturally appropriate care also puts a greater strain on the health system’s resources through longer than necessary treatment and longer hospital stays. Those are resources that could be used to fund more beds or pay wages for more nurses.”

The most recent Nursing Council statistics indicate that Māori (17.4 percent of the population) make up just 7 percent of the nursing workforce. Pasifika (8 percent of the population) make up just 4 percent.

Ms Nuku says increasing these numbers significantly will result in care across the health system that is culturally appropriate and that will lead to increased (and earlier) Māori and Pasifika engagement with services. And this will significantly reduce the economic health burden.

“We need also to remember that upholding te Tiriti o Waitangi firmly across the health system is part of the obligation for Māori to have self-determination over their own health and wellbeing and to achieve equitable health outcomes. Pasifika are also entitled to culturally appropriate care.

“We cannot achieve these things without more Māori and Pasifika nurses.”

She said to grow nursing numbers we will also need to address the nursing student problem.

“By the third year of study 25 percent of nursing students drop out overall – mostly due to financial hardship. That figure is 33 percent for Māori and 37 percent for Pasifika.  

“One way of attracting nursing students would be funded free training for them, and to have their work placements paid. Dropout figures would fall and the number of new nurses would rise more quickly over time.

“We do this for much-needed trade apprentices, so why not for nurses? Surely that’s a policy gap any political party with a modicum of courage could grab!”

Ms Nuku says she wonders how many political parties really grasp how bad things will get in the next few years if these problems aren’t addressed.

“I would love to hear more from political parties about just how they will find the courage to fund more nurses more quickly, particularly Māori and Pasifika.

“These are real problems and I want to know just what each party intends to do about them.”

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Media enquiries: Rob Zorn, NZNO Media and Communications Advisor: 027 431 2617 | media@nzno.org.nz

New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 5 September 2023

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) supports the senior doctors and dentists on strike today for wage increases that reflect real rises in the cost of living.

NZNO President Anne Daniels said asking senior doctors and dentists to take a pay cut by not offering increases that match the CPI is both unfair and short-sighted.

“We are at a time when health professionals are leaving their jobs at unprecedented rates.

“The work is endless, the pressures are high and the prospect of burnout is very real. Refusing fair pay lifts is just going to exacerbate the problem, causing more doctors to leave or retire early.

“It’s hard enough right now to get an appointment with a doctor and this has already resulted in massive pressures on emergency departments, which affects us all. Te Whatu Ora’s penny-pinching on wages will just end up costing the health system more in terms of pressure on other workers and remaining resources.”

Ms Daniels said that, like nurses, senior doctors and dentists care about their patients and they are going on strike for the good of their profession’s future. Wages that properly recognise the qualifications and contributions of senior doctors in the public system – by at least matching the inflation rate – will help reduce the number leaving for overseas or private sector positions.

“NZNO calls on Te Whatu Ora to show more foresight. Asking senior doctors and dentists to take a pay cut will just further reduce the availability of health services to everyone in Aotearoa New Zealand.

“Our whānau, our loved ones and our communities need their doctors and dentists. Give them at least the cost of living so more will stay.”

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Media enquiries: Rob Zorn, NZNO Media and Communications Advisor: 027 431 2617 | media@nzno.org.nz

New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 7 August 2023

In a ballot closing at noon today, members of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) voted to accept the latest collective agreement proposed settlement from Te Whatu Ora.

As a result a 24-hour strike by NZNO’s roughly 35,000 Te Whatu Ora members planned to start 7am on Wednesday 9 August will not go ahead.

NZNO Chief Executive Paul Goulter said there was a high level of member participation in the ballot, but that the result, while still clear, was reasonably close.

“While a majority of members accepted the offer, the closeness of the vote shows there remains a serious level of concern and discontent amongst members.

“Many members see the offer as not helping address the shortage of nurses that is severely impacting on the quality of care they can provide for their unwell patients. It is pretty light on important issues such as health and safety at work and minimum staff to patient ratios.

“It doesn’t provide a wage rise that meets the cost of living either.”

Paul Goulter said it was clear that members strongly believe a lot still needed to change.

“Bargaining for the next collective agreement will start early next year and we will continue making health and safety, safe staffing, nurse-to-patient ratios and cost of living increases our focus. These issues remain vitally important to our members, and we will come out fighting on them.”

He said the ratification ballot on the proposed collective agreement settlement should not be confused with the Pay Equity settlement which was accepted by members last week.

“Pay Equity is a one-time adjustment to wage levels meant to address historic sex-based discrimination against people who work in a female-dominated profession. Collective agreements are re-negotiated every few years and are focused on ongoing pay and working conditions.”

Paul Goulter said the public can show their support for nurses by signing NZNO’s ‘We need nurses’ petition and participating in NZNO’s #thenurseweneed campaign activities as they occur.

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Media enquiries: Rob Zorn, NZNO Media and Communications Advisor: 027 431 2617.

New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 23 July 2023

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) says its 35,000 or so members employed by Te Whatu Ora will start voting tomorrow (Monday 24 July) on whether or not to accept the latest proposed Pay Equity settlement.

The proposed settlement arose from mediation between Te Whatu Ora, NZNO and the PSA who have been in litigation over the claim in the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) and Employment Court since early 2022.

NZNO Chief Executive Paul Goulter said the Pay Equity claim, first lodged in 2017 under the Equal Pay Act, is meant to address long-standing sex-based discrimination and bring nursing wages in line with the wages of male-dominated professions that do similar work.

“It’s a significant and historic vote and if members accept it the amended pay rates would be effective from 7 March 2022 and would begin to be paid within six weeks of the proposed settlement being approved. If members don’t agree to the proposed settlement, we will resume judicial proceedings, and the outcome will be for the ERA and Employment Court to decide.”

However, Paul Goulter said Pay Equity was entirely separate from collective agreement negotiations, and the two should not be conflated.

“These are wages nurses, midwives, health care assistants and kaimahi hauora are already entitled to because of the longstanding sex-based discrimination they have faced.

“We’re concerned that Pay Equity is often mentioned when the latest collective agreement offer from Te Whatu Ora is being described as if they were part of the same deal, which they are not.

“Collective agreement negotiations are about cost of living, labour market matters and, of course, all the other terms and conditions. They are not about gender discrimination which is addressed under the Equal Pay Act.”

NZNO’s Te Whatu Ora members will also vote 1-7 August over whether to accept the latest collective agreement offer from Te Whatu Ora, which, Paul Goulter says, is an improvement on the last offer, though it does fall short in terms of members’ claims around safer staffing practices, nurse to patient ratios and health and safety.

A 24-hour strike planned to commence at 7am on 9 August, which was organised before the latest offer, will be called off if members vote to accept the offer.

“Members demanded this strike because of their frustration over the lack of progress and slow responses from Te Whatu Ora in negotiations, which have been going on since the current agreement expired back in October.

“It’s now entirely up to members to decide whether the flat rate salary increase of $4000 ($5000 for senior nurses) and a further 3 percent next year will be sufficient for them to settle and put a halt to strike action, and they are looking at this entirely separately from Pay Equity.”

The offered collective agreement pay rises will be based on the new Pay Equity rates, if members vote to accept the proposed Pay Equity settlement agreement.

The Pay Equity poll closes on 31 July.

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Media inquiries: Rob Zorn, NZNO Media and Communications Advisor: 027 431 2617.

New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 19 July 2023

Members of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO), who are employed by Te Whatu Ora, have voted overwhelmingly in support of a 24-hour strike on 9-10 August.

NZNO Chief Executive Paul Goulter says the strike ballot, which closed at noon today, had very high member participation and the result was absolutely decisive.

“Members demanded this ballot because they are extremely frustrated at the lack of progress and slow responses from Te Whatu Ora in negotiations, which have been going on since the current agreement expired back in October.

“Despite the extremely difficult and unsafe working environment they face every day in our public hospitals and worksites, which has been well-covered in the media, they do not feel they are being heard or taken seriously.

“To date, claims in negotiations around safer staffing practices, nurse to patient ratios and health and safety have pretty much fallen on deaf ears, and these members have simply had enough.”

Paul Goulter said nurses, midwives, health care assistants and kaimahi hauora are always extremely reluctant to strike because of the impact it has on patients.

“But there comes a point when they decide they have to strike for the very wellbeing of those patients, whose health and everyday care is jeopardised by unsafe staffing levels that Te Whatu Ora refuses to address.”

He said that, as with any strike action in the public arena, NZNO members will work with Te Whatu Ora and do their best to provide life preserving services at all hospitals and worksites for the duration of the strike.

The strike ballot was organised before the latest offer was received from Te Whatu Ora yesterday, Paul Goulter said.

He said the union will proceed with the strike unless members vote to ratify the recently received offer. A ratification vote on the offer will open on 1 August and close on 7 August.

A strike notice will be issued to Te Whatu Ora on Monday 24 July. The strike will start at 7am on 9 August 2023 and end at 7am on 10 August 2023 at every site where Te Whatu Ora provides health care services or hospital care services.

Meanwhile, NZNO Te Whatu Ora members are also set to vote on a Pay Equity offer from the Government and Te Whatu Ora, which, Paul Goulter says, is meant to address long-standing gender discrimination.

“Pay Equity is an entirely separate process from collective agreement negotiations because it addresses an historic undervaluation of a female-dominated profession that simply has to be corrected.”

The Pay Equity ratification ballot will open on 24 July and close on 31 July.

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Media enquiries: Rob Zorn, NZNO Media and Communications Advisor: 027 431 2617 | media@nzno.org.nz