Nursing reports

New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 2 May 2024

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation NZNO Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) say the Government’s proposal, announced today, to disestablish the Pay Equity Taskforce within Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission is extremely regrettable.

NZNO Chief Executive Paul Goulter says women being paid less than men, even though they do work of equal value, remains widespread across the country.

“To disband the expert group of people tasked with supporting pay equity for women before this work is complete in New Zealand is unwise and speaks again of the Government’s misdirected priorities.

“The demise of the taskforce will come with a huge loss in terms of the knowledge and skills required to ensure women do not remain the victims of sex-based wage discrimination. These skills were of huge benefit to both employers and the unions representing their employees in sorting pay equity issues.”

Paul Goulter says the Government appears to be divesting its pay equity responsibilities under the Equal Pay Act to public sector agencies, making them responsible for meeting pay equity obligations from here on.

“And it’s really ominous that the Government has still not committed to closing the massive pay equity gap around the non-state (funded) sector – for example the huge difference between what nurses are paid in our hospitals as opposed to our general practices, community health and support services, Māori and iwi health providers, Plunket and so on.

“These forms of Primary Care are hugely important for preventing ill health and reducing the burden on our public hospitals and emergency departments. But they are under serious threat because the pay gap makes it hard for them to attract or retain staff. You and I and our loved ones pay the price for that.”

He says there is time for the Government to reverse this decision.

“Instead of dismantling the mechanisms we need to achieve pay equity, we’d like to see the Government actually honouring its pre-election promise to pay all nurses equally, by strongly committing to establishing pay equity across the funded sector (Primary/Community Health).”

-Ends-

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

The Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi (PSA), E tū, and the New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) are calling on Te Whatu Ora to stop interfering in the Care and Support Workers’ Pay Equity claim that has left 65,000 underpaid health workers waiting.

“For more than a year we have undergone a rigorous Pay Equity process. We have systematically proven and measured the undervaluation of care and support workers based on their gender,” says PSA Assistant Secretary Melissa Woolley.

The three unions filed the claim on 1 July 2022 with 15 employers that are representative of the wider care and support sector, employing around 30 percent of the workforce.

“We are disappointed that as we near the end of the process, Te Whatu Ora has interfered and overstepped its role by trying to initiate a review of work on the claim that has already been completed and received the necessary signoff,” says E tū Assistant National Secretary Rachel Mackintosh.

Pay Equity claims follow a prescribed process overseen by the Public Service Commission. Each milestone during the process is awarded appropriate signoff before advancing to the next stage and Rachel says the proposed review seeks to re-open elements of the work that have already been signed off.

“We are on the edge of a decision that would make sure care and support workers are paid fairly for what they do and that would strengthen our community-based health services. This unwarranted and damaging proposed review has significantly delayed reaching a settlement,” says caregiver and NZNO delegate Trish McKillop.

Unions have issued a legal challenge to the review.

An open letter has been launched today calling on funders to provide sufficient resources to settle the claim as soon as possible and stop the interference. The letter is supported by community organisations including Grey Power, the National Council of Women, and the Council of Trade Unions.

The situation is now urgent as the Care and Support Workers Pay Equity Settlement Act is due to expire on 31 December with no assurance of how its protections will be maintained.

“We are committed to working with the next government to ensure care and support workers receive a Pay Equity offer by the end of the year,” Melissa Woolley says.

-ENDS-

Further information:

• The Care and Support Workers’ Pay Equity claim covers home support workers, aged care workers, disability support workers, and mental health and addictions workers.
• Aotearoa celebrated proudly in 2017 when unions won an historic pay increase for care and support workers following landmark legal wins championed by aged care worker Kristine Bartlett. But since then, their wages have regressed back to minimum wage while the cost of living has skyrocketed.
• The open letter is here.

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.

-Ends-

* 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, 28 November 2022

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) has welcomed this morning’s Government announcement that $200m per year will be spent addressing the wage gap between community-based frontline workers and their counterparts who work for Te Whatu Ora. 

But it says the decision to leave out GP practices is regrettable.

NZNO Chief Executive Paul Goulter said the Government needs to be acknowledged for the initiative, which is particularly good news for workers with Māori and Pasifika health service providers whose wage gap has been crushingly unjust for so long. 

“Earning up to 25 percent less just because of where you work is completely unacceptable in Aotearoa New Zealand, so we're really pleased the Government has committed to ongoing funding for this.

“We also think the boost will have a really positive impact for the Aged Care Residential sector, which has been hit really hard by staff leaving for better paid jobs in the public sector.”

However, Paul Goulter said more work still needed to be done because nurses working for general practices have been excluded.

“The Government says it’s not convinced a pay parity gap exists for those nurses. We don't agree with that at all, and both our members and employers say they are losing staff at rate of knots to jobs with Te Whatu Ora where the pay is much better.

“And in a lot of cases general practice employers are topping up wages just to keep their staff, and that money has come out of funding for other services which could have benefitted patients and the community. 

“That’s not a sustainable situation long-term and the Government really needs to re-examine this decision. Otherwise Primary Health Care, and the communities that rely on it, will continue to suffer. It’s just not right that this sector will not participate.”

Paul Goulter also welcomed the Government’s assertion that the money must be used to fix existing pay differences.

“We’re really keen to see what mechanism will exist to ensure transparency and that the funding goes into the pockets of nurses and other health workers, rather than being absorbed into something else.”

-Ends-

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

New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 29 August 2022

Members of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) will be holding public rallies today in five main centres to call on the Government to ensure Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand (formerly the DHBs) urgently provides the funding needed to properly value Aotearoa’s Primary Health Care nurses.

The main centres are Auckland, Tauranga, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch and the rallies will run from 12.30 until 1.30pm.

Primary Health Care nurses work in areas of the health system such as General Practice, after-hours emergency centres, Plunket, Māori and iwi health providers, Urgent Care and Family Planning. They have the same qualifications, training and responsibilities as Te Whatu Ora nurses, but are paid significantly less.

A nurse at a medical centre typically earns 10-20 percent less, and nurses working for Māori and iwi providers can earn up to 25 percent less.

Many employers say they want to pay their staff the same rates as Te Whatu Ora nurses, but they can’t do so without increased capitation funding from the Government.

Christchurch-based Primary Health Care nurse Denise Moore says many nurses are leaving Primary Health Care for hospital-based jobs with Te Whatu Ora where they can earn more, and that this is causing real problems for members of the community.

“I don’t blame nurses for leaving Primary Health Care for better pay because it is hard to make ends meet on our wages, but it does make things worse for those who remain because staff numbers are so low and the hours are already long and arduous.

“When employers can’t find new nurses to replace the ones who have left, it means they have to cut services or delay appointments and that affects everyone in the community.”

Registered nurse Gina Chaffey works at a Māori Health provider in Tairawhiti. She says she would never leave her Primary Health Care role because it is about the people.

“He aha te mea nui o te ao? He Tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata. Meeting the needs of my people is always paramount and they depend on me. But why is the pay gap for nurses who work in Primary Health Care or for Iwi so big? The Government needs to step up and meet its obligations under te Tiriti.

“Injustice has been a lifetime battle for Māori and pay parity with Te Whatu Ora nurses would be a step towards equality. Like them we studied for our nursing degrees, and we go way beyond the call of duty every day. It just isn’t right that the Government funds one group of nurses more than another.”

At today’s rallies members of the public will be invited to rate the Government’s performance on fairly paying Primary Health Care nurses by placing a sticker on their chosen location on a large Plunket chart. They can also cast a ballot to vote on how well they think the Government is doing at valuing Primary Health Care Nurses.

The rallies will be at the following locations, starting at 12.30pm.

• Auckland: Corner of Memorial Drive and Gt North Road, New Lynn
• Tauranga: Red Square (bottom of Devonport Road)
• Hamilton: Garden Place, Victoria Street
• Wellington: Midland Park, Lambton Quay
• Christchurch: Riverside Market

-Ends-

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

Embargoed until 12.30pm, 20 July 2022

New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 20 July 2022

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation, Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) says it received more than 2700 responses (in just two days) after inviting members to send a message to the Minister of Health about the nursing/health crisis.

NZNO gave its members the opportunity in response to Health Minister Andrew Little’s persistent assertions that there is no health crisis and that the system as a whole is coping.

NZNO Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku said one only has to read the news to see that the system is actually on the brink of collapse, just as many health professionals are saying.

“Ninety-nine percent of responding members said the system was either in crisis (70 percent) or already beyond crisis (29 percent).

“What word we use to describe this situation is probably not important, but the Government’s insistence that this is just a temporary situation caused by covid and a cold winter has made nurses feel unheard and completely undervalued, and that is evident in the messages to the Minister. Many are furious, and many are in tears as they write.”

Some of the messages are lengthy, and NZNO President Anne Daniels said the fact that so many went to such lengths to share their thoughts is significant.

“Decades of poor planning, inadequate funding and outright neglect have led us to a time of absolute crisis in terms of pay, staffing resources and morale across the nursing sector.

“This isn’t a temporary glitch; many are seeing it as the end of the road, with 72 percent of respondents saying they are either seriously thinking of leaving nursing or New Zealand, or that they had already made plans to do so.

“This is not union officials opining in Wellington. These messages are the heartfelt pleas of nurses and other health workers right across the country working in a wide variety of nursing sectors. We hope for their sakes that the Health Minister and the Government will be willing to listen.” 

Interestingly, 95 percent of respondents (not all of whom work in the DHB sector) said honouring the promised back pay to DHB nurses and extending DHB Pay Equity rates to all nurses in New Zealand, regardless of where they practice, was one of the most important things Government could do to help address the nursing/health crisis.

The book of messages, amounting to 330 pages of print, will be anonymised and delivered to the Health Minister today at 12 Noon by a small team of Wellington region NZNO delegates.  Journalists would be welcome to photograph and speak with these members at Parliament at around 12.30pm.

-Ends-

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

Further information: survey stats

Regions

Nurses completing the survey were from all sectors: DHB; Primary Health Care; Aged Care; Private Hospital and Hospice; and Māori and iwi. Responses were received from all 20 DHB regions.

Is there a crisis?

2735 answered the question about whether there was a nursing crisis. No and Maybe were answer choices. 1910 (70 percent) said there was a crisis. A further 29 percent said the situation was already beyond crisis. 

How does the Government denial of a health crisis make you feel? 

Indifferent was an available choice. However, 39 percent said they were angry; 19 percent said they were disillusioned; 41 percent said they felt undervalued. Total = 99 percent.

Are you thinking of leaving nursing?

• Seriously thinking about leaving: 33 percent
• Seriously thinking about taking a nursing job overseas: 27 percent
• Already made plans to leave for good: 5 percent
• Already made plans to nurse overseas: 6 percent
• Determined to battle on: 28 percent. 

In other words, less than a third indicated they wanted to stay in their jobs.

What are the most important things Government could do to help address the nursing/health crisis?

• Honour the promised Pay Equity back pay for DHB nursing staff, and extend those Pay Equity rates to all nursing sectors: 96 percent.
• Provide more nurses: 80 percent
• Prioritise health and safety in workplaces: 70 percent
• Put internationally qualified nurses on the fast track to residency: 64 percent
• Remove financial barriers for nursing students: 60 percent
• Make it cheaper and easier for IQNs already here to gain registration: 53 percent
• Implement te Tiriti across the health system: 34 percent.

New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 11 May 2022

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) says it will be launching a new campaign tomorrow through which it intends to win the political and resourcing commitments needed to address the nursing shortage crisis permanently – and across the whole health sector.

12 May is International Nurses Day, and NZNO Chief Executive Paul Goulter says that’s the perfect time to launch Maranga Mai! (meaning ‘Rise up!’), an ambitious campaign that calls on every nurses everywhere in New Zealand to rise up together and demand that they be resourced and enabled to do their jobs safely and well.

“So much has been asked of nurses, midwives, health care assistants and kaimahi hauora, and they have delivered like the courageous and professional workforce they are, right across Health. I am not just talking about our DHB-run hospitals.

“But decades of poor planning, inadequate funding and outright neglect have led us to a time of absolute crisis in terms of pay, staffing resources and morale across the nursing sector.

“NZNO intends to go hard. We will be relentless in pursuit of our goals and we will not stop until they are achieved.”

Central to the Maranga Mai! campaign will be the ‘Five Fixes’ which form the charter of demands for the campaign:

1. te Tiriti actualised within and across the health system
2. more nurses across the health sector
3. pay and conditions that meet nurses’ value and expectations
4. more people training to be nurses
5. more Māori and Pasifika nurses.

Paul Goulter says these are what is needed to solve the crisis and that NZNO must be at the table when decisions are made affecting nursing.

“We are more than 55,000 strong and growing. We have a portfolio of solutions and it’s time for Government to listen and involve us so we can work together on fixing this.”

He said a start would be addressing Pay Equity issues for DHB nursing staff without delay and honouring back pay obligations, which would reassure nurses they are valued and go some way towards restoring trust.

“And then those improved rates have to be rolled out across other sectors so people will want to become nurses and want to work where they are needed instead of where the better money is. I’m talking about Aged Care, Primary Care, and especially Māori and iwi providers where nurses earn 30 percent less than their colleagues in other sectors.”

He said a second solution is to implement mandatory staff to patient ratios in every area of health, supported by staff allocation systems and programmes that match nursing resources to patient needs.

“These are the sorts of things it is going to take to guarantee quality of care and that nurses have the time to see that patient needs are met in a compassionate and holistic way.

“Make no mistake about it, people are sicker than they need to be and some are dying because of the nursing crisis and it is time to get serious about addressing this.

“We are deadly serious. Maranga Mai! is not just a campaign for every nurse everywhere. It’s a campaign that will benefit all people in Aotearoa New Zealand because nurses who are well-resourced to do their work without the constant stress of being short-staffed will improve access to good health care and services for all of us.”

Maranga Mai! will be launched at an online forum for members at 11am on Thursday 12 May 2022.

-Ends-

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

New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 11 April 2022

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation, Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) says it will initiate a full legal review of the Pay Equity settlement agreement that was presented to NZNO and PSA members on Friday 8 April, and the process leading up to it.

New NZNO Chief Executive Paul Goulter said member feedback indicated there was significant dissatisfaction with the back pay aspect of the deal in that the proposed lump sum payment in recognition of past work was not what they were expecting – based on member understanding that they would be individually back paid to 31 December 2019.

“These negotiations took place before my appointment as Chief Executive and I was not party to them.

“However, it appears something is not right, and I have initiated a full legal review as to whether the proposed lump sum (backdating) payment meets the conditions agreed to in our last MECA negotiations, and whether we were legally correct in bringing the proposed settlement to members.”

Paul Goulter said the negotiations had been protracted and difficult, with a number of parties involved, and the NZNO and PSA negotiation teams, which included members saw the proposed settlement as a way of settling negotiations and getting much improved base pay rates to members.

“The employers said individual backpay was difficult for their payroll systems and that they would have to phase increases in over at least two years, and members have already become frustrated by ongoing delays.”

He said the new pay rates were considerable across the DHB nursing workforce and seem to have been, by and large, welcomed by members.

“This is a new and historic recognition that nursing has been undervalued as a workforce because it has mainly been done by women.

“That has been addressed and corrected in the proposed settlement, and we will now go hard to see those base DHB rates are extended to all sectors of nursing, including primary health care (e.g. medical centres), aged care, and particularly Māori and iwi providers.”

He said he expected to report the outcome of the legal review back to members as soon as possible, and preferably before the Easter break.

“Members will need this information before voting on the settlement and deciding next steps moving forward.”

-Ends-

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

New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 30 September 2021

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) welcomes Immigration Minister Hon Kris Faafoi’s one-off residence pathway for working migrants currently living in Aotearoa New Zealand announced today.

An estimated 5000 of these are health and aged care workers, and NZNO Industrial Services Manager Glenda Alexander says this will be good news for them and a step towards retaining our current nursing workforce.

“Many internationally qualified members of NZNO are frustrated with current immigration settings and some are leaving or have left Aotearoa New Zealand as a result.

“Removing uncertainty and providing a clear pathway to permanent residence will help address this exodus at a time when we are facing a crucial shortage of nursing professionals.”

Ms Alexander wrote to Hon Kris Faafoi on behalf of NZNO earlier this month on the very issue of permanent resident status for internationally qualified health care workers. She says that while the announced pathway addresses many of the concerns NZNO raised, more needs to be done about reuniting these workers already here with their families and loved ones still overseas.

“We are pleased that partners and dependents can also be included in applications for permanent residence if they are already living here.

“What we’d like to see is pathways opened up into the country for more internationally qualified nursing staff who want to live here permanently and for the same opportunity to be extended to their families.

“We are critically short of nurses at a time when we need them most, and it is unfair and counter-productive that they be required to work here while isolated and without support from close family.”

However, Ms Alexander said that while immigration was an important short-term solution to having a sustainable nursing workforce here, she agreed with Hon Kris Faafoi that employers must also find ways to build their workforces by attracting and retaining local workers.

“We need to contribute to nursing on a global scale by also encouraging New Zealanders into the nursing workforce. There is a lack of nurses in almost every country so taking health professionals away from other places where they are needed is not a workable solution long-term.

“We look forward to working with Government and employers on large scale nursing recruitment, and on making the nursing profession a more attractive career option in Aotearoa New Zealand.”

-Ends-

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

New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 19 March 2021

Understaffing in the aged care sector in Aotearoa New Zealand is the focus of this year’s Caregivers Week, which starts on Monday 22 March. 

Understaffing means workers do not have time to provide the best possible care and must often make difficult decisions about how to ration the care they can provide. This takes its toll on care staff and many do unpaid extra hours to get through their work.

NZNO organiser Christina Couling says the people of Aotearoa New Zealand need to know that current staffing levels are inadequate, and that our elderly deserve far better. 

“Currently we don’t have mandatory minimum staffing levels in the aged care sector. The guidelines we do have are optional, very much out of date and do not provide for the increasingly complex health needs of our older New Zealanders. Understaffing impacts directly on our seniors and their opportunity to lead the best lives possible.

“We are campaigning for the Government to introduce legislated (mandatory) minimum staffing levels across the sector. We need more nurses and caregivers on every shift to provide safe care.

“This is imperative if we are to give our elderly the care they deserve in their latter years.”

Ms Couling says the current understaffing and undervaluation of aged care workers has resulted from decades of privatisation.

“The care of our seniors is placed with private companies some of which make massive profits. Our aged care workers give their best to ensure our loved ones are safe and well, but they are constantly being pushed to work harder with less time available to care for residents.

“We can’t let profit get in the way of care. As long as the Government delegates this responsibility to profit-driven companies without sufficient regard for safe staffing, provision of care will suffer.” 

To support the push for mandatory staffing levels the public are urged to sign an open letter to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at www.together.org.nz/safestaffingnow.

Caregivers Week was established by the New Zealand Nurses Organisation College of Gerontology Nursing to celebrate the significant contribution health care assistants and caregivers to people living in aged residential care. It occurs each year during the last week of March. 

-Ends-

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