New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 22 July 2020

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) and E tū, with the support of Grey Power, launched an online open letter to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday pushing for mandatory minimum staffing numbers of nurses and caregivers in relation to resident numbers in the aged care sector.

Actions to support the nationwide #safestaffingnow campaign will also be taking place around the country in the coming weeks.

NZNO member and Registered Nurse Jean Al-Daghestani says not having enough staff with the right skills to care for increasingly frail and dependant residents is unsafe and unacceptable. 

“The reality for those of us working in aged care is that we just don’t have enough time to do what we know is best for our residents. This takes an incredible toll on our emotional wellbeing as front line workers.

“As a society we need to value our older citizens more, and the Government’s commitment to this call is crucial for change – regardless of who leads us after the election.”

In 2010, Labour recommended compulsory minimum staffing guidelines and referred to the sector as ‘desperate for a revolution’.

Recommendations from the Human Rights Commission report Caring Counts, published in 2012, included the voluntary standard “Indicators for safe aged-care and dementia-care for consumers” becoming compulsory (rather than mere guidelines) to ensure the protection of both carers and older people.

However, Ms Al-Daghestani says 10 years on, the Health & Disability Services Core Sector Standards do not include mandatory staffing regulations.”

“There is ample research showing the benefits of the right number of staff on duty: reduced falls and injuries, reduced medication errors and far better outcomes for our most frail senior residents. Unsafe aged care staffing is a therefore poor reflection on all of us.” 

NZNO Industrial Advisor Lesley Harry says the sector’s profit-driven model is to blame because understaffing reduces costs at the expense of quality care. 

“The health needs of our most vulnerable seniors must be an integral part of the health sector not its poor cousin. Past government confidence in employers’ voluntary compliance with outdated and inadequate staffing requirements is no longer sustainable and is completely at odds with the current government’s compassionate and kind image.”

NZNO is encouraging New Zealanders to share and sign the open letter to Jacinda Ardern at https://www.together.org.nz/safestaffingnow.

Recommendations from the Human Rights Commission report Caring Counts published in 2012 included the voluntary standard “Indicators for safe aged-care and dementia-care for consumers” becoming compulsory (rather than mere guidelines) to ensure the protection of both carers and older people.

The #safestaffingnow campaign was launched at Woburn House, 57 Wai-iti Crescent, Lower Hutt on Tuesday 21 July at 3.30pm.

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

New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 6 September 2019

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) is challenging proposed staffing changes at two facilities run by Presbyterian Support Southland (PSS), saying they will reduce standards of patient care and put extra strain on nursing and care staff, and that they are being justified on out-of-date guidelines.

NZNO Organiser Simone Montgomery said that across its hospital services and two rest homes (Vickery Court in Invercargill and Rest Haven in Gore), the PSS proposals would cut net staff care by around 157 hours per week – and, she said, this comes after net care hours were cut by 114 per week last year.

“The staff reductions are being justified by the claim that PSS services are currently over-staffed according to the 2005 Aged Care Staffing Guidelines, but we have been saying for some time that these standards are hopelessly out-of-date and do not account for the increased number of people in aged care, or for their increasingly complex needs.

“The clear message in all of this to current staff, who are already overstretched, is that somehow they aren’t working well or hard enough, and that’s ridiculous.”

In March this year NZNO and E tū released their joint report: In safe hands? How poor staffing levels and rationed care are harming aged care residents and staff. The research surveyed 1194 people working in aged care facilities and found that three quarters (73.45 percent) of those surveyed either disagreed or strongly disagreed that staffing levels were sufficient to provide quality care for residents.

The report called for a review of the existing standards and that new resulting standards be made compulsory. The 2005 standards currently in place are voluntary.

The rationale for the staffing reductions is that DHB funding for aged care does not cover staff that would be considered ‘extra’ when staffing levels are compared to the 2005 Guidelines, but Ms Montgomery said the proper solution should be to seek increased funding and not reduce standards of care to save money.

“We think New Zealanders care very much about the health, wellbeing and dignity of our seniors and would agree that the way we care for them reflects back on all of us,” she said.

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

New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 12 March 2019

EMBARGOED UNTIL 1PM, 13 MARCH 2019

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation and E tū are holding a summit in Wellington today (13 March) calling for a review of staffing standards for residential aged care – and for new and better standards to be made mandatory. The organisations are also launching a report on their joint research which reveals that standard care is missed or delayed in almost every shift, and that aged care staff frequently face distress and exhaustion in their work.

NZNO Industrial Advisor Aged Care David Wait says the public would be shocked at the findings of the research which was conducted in late 2018.

“We think New Zealanders care very much about the health, wellbeing and dignity of our seniors and would agree that the way we care for them reflects back on all of us.

“Our research shows aged care residents’ immediate emotional and physical needs often go unmet because staff are forced to ration the way they care, and if you’re not a priority you miss out.

“Right now aged care under-staffing is hurting everybody, and we’re confident the public will back our call for the government to review existing standards.”

David Wait said the current standards were published in 2005 and were inadequate even then.

“Things have changed dramatically since 2005. We have more people in aged care, they’re entering facilities later in life with much greater care needs and they’re living longer.

“What’s worse is that our current standards are completely voluntary and recent evidence shows, for example, that more than half of aged care providers deliver less registered nurse time than is recommended for hospital and dementia level patients.”

He also said medical conditions associated with care rationing, such as pressure ulcers and injuries from falls, would occur less frequently if we had better staffing, saving New Zealand money while we provide better care.

NZNO delegate and registered nurse Sacha Young says if there were enough staff to meet residents’ needs, people in aged care would have much better physical and emotional wellbeing.

“We don’t have time to do simple things like help residents take short walks, or sit with them for a few minutes when they are distressed.

“Not being able to do this puts a lot of stress on staff who would love to be able to provide better quality care. They often feel guilty or unfulfilled in their work and that’s a very unpleasant situation for everyone.”

She said a simple solution, however, would be to review the Staffing Standards and set mandatory minimum staffing numbers.

“It’s time to set staffing levels high enough to ensure our residents are always in safe hands.”

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Media inquiries

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

More information

About the summit

The summit will be held at St John’s Presbyterian Church, 170 Willis St, Te Aro, Wellington 6011. The start time is 1pm, but media are welcome from 12.30pm.

The report will be launched at the summit. In attendance will be NZNO and E tū leadership in aged care, Grey Power, politicians including Jan Logie, and a range of delegates and aged care workers from around the country. All will be happy to speak to the media.

About the report

In safe hands? How poor staffing levels and rationed care are harming aged care residents and staff

• This report is based on research by the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) and E tū which was undertaken in 2018 to examine the current state of aged care in New Zealand. What it reveals is a broken system, which endangers residents and takes a heavy toll on nurses and caregivers.
• The research records the results of a survey by NZNO and E tū of 1194 people working in aged care facilities (rest homes, dementia units and hospitals) including registered nurses, enrolled nurses, caregivers and managers.
• Care rationing – 'the withholding or failure to carry out necessary nursing tasks due to inadequate time, staffing level, and/or skill mix'.
• Three quarters (73.45%) of those surveyed either disagreed or strongly disagreed that staffing levels were sufficient to provide quality care for residents.
• 81% of staff say the care needs of residents have increased significantly over the last few years. Most report they are not able to get more staff when residents need more care.

Many more facts and statistics are available in the report which can be viewed online at https://www.flexmediagroup.co.nz/in-safe-hands/index.html.

PDF copies of the report can be requested from Rob Zorn: rob.zorn@nzno.org.nz | 027 431 2617.

Quotes from respondents to the survey (included in the report)

“I love my job, I love the residents I work with and I love the feeling of being able to make a difference. But that can only take you so far. We need help and we need it now!”

“It is clear to staff that we do not have enough time to see to residents’ most basic physical needs let alone emotional and psychological needs. For example we have no time to sit with distressed, unhappy residents and simply talk with them.”

“Staff feel like they are providing a below par service. We work extra time for free and go home exhausted and some days crying as we didn’t manage to do everything people wanted.”

“I dread to go back to work at times.”

“Residents don't report injuries to us because they think we are too busy. In one case this has meant an assisted living resident had infected wounds no-one knew about, which he later died from."

"Residents worry they are a burden and won't ring the bell because they know we are busy, so lie in pain rather than ‘making a fuss’."

“The effect on residents is that they don’t get all of the 'little' things they want and need, a cup of tea, the toilet when they really need it, their teeth brushed, lipstick put on, regular turns to keep bed-ridden residents comfortable or even just a hug, a laugh or conversation.”

“Sometimes in the rush residents are processed like products in a factory in order to get through the workload.”

“I leave the rest home, sit in my car and cry, I'm so exhausted and depressed, and angry… our residents are not getting quality care, actually some are getting no care, or very little care."

“I feel relief to have survived a shift without an incident and immense dismay and dissatisfaction about a job not able to be well done.”

New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 19 December 2018

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) has welcomed the Government’s call for consultation on proposed changes to temporary work visas, saying they will be good for both New Zealand nurses and migrants working in nursing and aged care.

NZNO Industrial Adviser Aged Care David Wait said the changes, proposed by Minister for Immigration Hon Iain Lees-Galloway, will help stabilise the nursing workforce in aged care, , improve wages, encourage upskilling and help ensure we can provide quality care for our seniors.

“New Zealand has the highest rate of internationally qualified nurses in the OECD at 27 percent of our nursing workforce, so these changes are really important and would have widespread implications.”

“One of the intentions of this proposal is to reduce our reliance on workers from overseas and that’s great, but it will also encourage better workforce training for both the domestic and migrant workers we do employ.

“It will also put upwards pressure on wages and this is a really good thing. Aged care workers earn significantly less than their counterparts working in district health boards and have been for a number of years. Unfortunately previous immigration policies have allowed some employers to undercut rates of pay for both New Zealanders and migrant workers.”

He said the proposal to review the requirement for low skilled migrant workers to have a one-year stand down period after they have worked here for three years is also welcome.

“This just makes good sense and will add stability for both migrant workers and employers. It will reduce the need for further recruiting and training and will lead to better quality care.”

He said migrant workers in aged care make an incredible contribution for which we should all be grateful.

“NZNO is all for employing migrant workers where New Zealanders can’t be found, but when we do employ them, they should receive fair wages and conditions.”

Hon Iain Lees-Galloway said that subject to the consultation, aged care was one of two sectors in which he wanted negotiations for industry agreements to begin. David Wait said this was also good news considering the heavy reliance upon migrant workers within aged care in New Zealand.

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

NZNO media advisory, 17 October 2018

Registered nurses, health care assistants and cleaners at Lynton Lodge Hospital in Auckland are to picket for an hour in protest over failing pay negotiations.

When: Thursday 18 October, 4.30-5.30pm
Where: Corner of West End Rd and Fife St, Westmere, Auckland
Spokesperson: Sarah Barker, Organiser, New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO)

Background:

NZNO has been negotiating to renew a collective agreement (CA) with Sunrise Healthcare which took over management of Lynton Lodge Hospital around one year ago. Sunrise had agreed to retain the existing CA.

However, the latest pay offer from Sunrise has been rejected by NZNO members.

• For cleaners at the hospital there is no offered pay rise beyond the increase to the minimum wage (required last April).
• For registered nurses (RNs) with four years’ service the pay offer is just 13 cents per hour. Those with three years’ service have been offered just two cents.

Health care assistants at Lynton Lodge Hospital (whose pay is now regulated through the Care and Support Workers Pay Equity Settlement) have voted to support their RN and cleaner colleagues by joining the picket.

Of interest:

Many staff at Lynton Lodge have long service there. Lynton Lodge was the winner of the 2015/16 Aged Advisor People’s Choice Award for Best Aged Care (Small) Facility, and was a finalist for the same award in 2017.

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

1 August 2013:

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) is extremely disappointed and disturbed that Rymans is publically blaming nurses for failure of care in their Malvina Major facility in Wellington.

NZNO industrial advisor for the aged care sector, David Wait says “All NZNO members will be appalled by the treatment of the elderly woman at the centre of this case and we support the family in their call for change and improvements to the sector.”

“However this must not be considered an isolated incident. Residential aged care in New Zealand is in crisis as the Human Rights Commission Caring counts report identified independently last year.”

“The lack of mandatory staffing levels, inadequate registered nursing hours, training requirements and pay rates for carers on, or near the minimum wage, clearly show how undervalued this work is.”

“Nurses and carers simply cannot provide the care which they want to provide if the facility is understaffed and under resourced.  Residents have complex health and personal care needs. Evidence demonstrates that patient outcomes are negatively impacted when there are insufficient regulated nurses. We have heard from a former Ryman’s staffer that on night shifts there is only one registered nurse rostered on for the entire facility – that’s one nurse responsible for over 200 residents and patients, ” says Lorraine Ritchie, NZNO professional nursing adviser.

“There is something seriously wrong with the sector when taxpayers provided $800 million to Rymans last year to provide care for our most vulnerable elderly citizens and at the same time they post profits of $100 million. And that massive profit is up 19 percent on the previous year, and Ryman’s eleventh year of profit increases.”

“NZNO members have been lobbying for Government intervention to address this situation through better transparency in funding (including targeted funding for pay increases), the development of enforceable staffing levels, and the requirement of all workers to be trained. The Government must step up and make the changes needed to improve things for our elderly.”
 

25 June 2013:

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) is pleased to support the case that could change the face of aged care, being taken by the Service and Food Workers Union: Ngā Ringa Tota this week.

Last year caregiver and SFWU member, Kristine Bartlett agreed to be the ‘test case’ for a challenge to the Equal Pay Act. The Equal Pay Act came into law in 1972 but until now it has not been used in a way which addresses the pay gap between male and female dominated professions.

NZNO industrial adviser for the aged care sector, David Wait says, “The case has already attracted strong interest from both the government and employers and as it proceeds will ask two important questions. Firstly, why caregivers working in residential care are paid less than caregivers working in our public hospitals. And secondly, the case will ask why there is a pay gap between jobs largely done by men and jobs largely done by women.”

“A common example that we often see in the aged care sector is the pay rates for ‘handymen’, typically around $20 an hour compared to minimum wage pay rates for carers.”

“NZNO sits within the Council of Trade Unions as an ‘intervener’ in the case, which means we are a primary supporter and provider of evidence. We are hopeful that our evidence and the work of Kristine and many others will pay off, and the court decides in our favour. When that happens, the work of thousands of other low paid women workers in New Zealand Aotearoa will be valued properly.”

19 February 2013: The Health Select Committee has released its report on the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) and Service and Food Workers Union Nga Ringa Tota (SFWU) petition calling for proper funding of the aged care sector.

NZNO is frustrated that the report does nothing more than suggest that the Government “acknowledge the commendable work that those employed in the aged-care sector carry out every day”.

NZNO industrial adviser, Susan Stewart says, “It is completely patronising for the Government members of the Health Select Committee to say this, while wholly ignoring the concerns of unions, those who work in the aged care sector, the Human Rights Commission and almost every stakeholder in the aged care industry, including the owners of rest homes.”

“It is time for the Government to listen to the thousands of people of Aotearoa who signed our petition and also participated in the Human Rights Commission investigation.”

“The Government’s blinkered approach is morally wrong; they are compromising the quality of care our vulnerable elders receive and are consigning those who care for them to live on poverty wages,” Stewart says.

“Our petition calls for safe staffing levels, pay parity, training and targeted government funding. It is about time the Government fronted up and dealt with these issues.”

24 October 2012:

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) and the Service and Food Workers Union: Nga Ringa Tota (SFWU) are hopeful that quality care for older New Zealanders is a step closer today, after a successful select committee presentation.

Last year over 11000 New Zealanders signed a charter calling for safe staffing levels, fair pay and conditions for aged care workers, training and a guarantee that government funding is used for nursing and personal care of residents. Today members of the Health Select Committee were very interested in hearing about the solutions proposed by those who know the aged care sector best, nurses and health care assistants who work in rest homes.

NZNO spokesperson, Susan Stewart says, “Our members spoke passionately and articulately about the valuable work they do for our countries’ most vulnerable citizens and it was heartening to see how interested our members of Parliament were in the problems and solutions.”

“There was clearly cross-party agreement that the residential aged care sector needs attention. We hope they can continue to work together to make the changes that will ensure quality care for older New Zealanders and decent pay and working conditions for those who care for them.”

SFWU spokesperson Alastair Duncan agrees, “MPs asked insightful and useful questions of our members and spoke of their commitment to progress the calls of the Charter.”

“Now is a good time for the Government to take action. There is a groundswell of support for workers in aged care. The Human Rights Commission recently released a report with ten recommendations to make sure carers and those they care for are valued properly and an industry wide summit was held earlier this month.”

“The elderly deserve better.  We have the solutions. Now, let’s see the action!”

12 June 2012:

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) and the Service and Food Workers Union today announced the settlement of a nine-month pay dispute with the Oceania rest home group.

SFWU spokesperson Alastair Duncan said the settlement secured a 3.22% pay raise for 1500 union members employed by Oceania. The settlement also saw the protection of overtime and other rights which the employer had sought to reduce.

“The key issue in this dispute was getting government money passed on to the workforce and we are pleased that Oceania has now understood the need to pass on the funding it receives from District Health Boards to the care staff,” said Alastair Duncan.

Alastair Duncan says the fact that it took nine months of conflict was disappointing and highlighted a sector wide problem of underfunding and a lack of focus on the true value of care staff.

“We now look forward to working with Oceania, and other aged care employers, to ensure the sector does its utmost to persuade the government to increase the funding levels for what is one of this country’s fastest growing industries,” NZNO spokesperson David Wait said.

Both unions say the recently released Human Rights Commission led by Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner Judy McGregor enquiry into the sector provides a timely opportunity for unions and employers to work together.

“The desperate need for better funding, safe staffing and mandatory training and support are all highlighted in the report,” David Wait said.

“As the largest care provider in the sector we expect Oceania to use its influence to engage with the government and DHBs so that there truly can be a ‘fair share, for aged care’,” Alastair Duncan said.

ENDS

For more information contact:
Alastair Duncan 0272 456 593 or David Wait 0274 810 514