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May 24, 2023 A hard-won one-hour strike by 24 Gisborne Hospital ward 5 nurses and health-care assistants (HCAs) this afternoon drew "huge" support, says an emotional nurse who led the fight all the way to the courtoom. In December, Gisborne Hospital nurse health and safety representative Carole Wallis lodged a provisional improvement notice (PIN) recommending five actions including reducing the beds on ward 5 - an acute medical and COVID ward - from 25 to 20. Te whatu Ora argued its hospital was taking steps on four of the five recommendations - including recruiting specifically for ward 5 - but did not agree reducing bed numbers on the ward would resolve the issues.
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Neonatal nurse exodus High turnover and recruitment were also the biggest challenges for neonatal nursing, said neonatal nurses college Aotearoa (<https://www.nzno.org.nz/groups /colleges_sections/colleges /neonatal_nurses_college>) chair Merophy Brown and committee member Michelle Willows. COASTN was also battling to maintain flight nurses on inter-hospital air ambulance transfers, amid a national ambulance service review. 'Work to do' to keep nurse-led services The women's health college (<https://www.nzno.org.nz/groups/colleges_sections/colleges /womens_health_college>) (WHC) was partnering with the NZ College of Sexual and Reproductive Health to provide long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) training (https://nzcsrh.org.nz /LARC-TTT-Training/10934/) for the first time this year, members Callie Reweti and Jackie Gartell said. Gastroenterology nurses also collaborated closely with their medical counterparts, running an annual scientific conference (https://www.gastroconference.co.nz/) with awards for nurses who made scientific posters, gave presentations or contributed scholarly articles for its Tube publication. (<https://www.nzno.org.nz/groups/colleges_sections/colleges /nzno_gastroenterology_nurses_college/the_tube) It also encouraged nurses to seek scholarships through its education fund. (https://www.nzno.org.nz/groups/colleges_sections/colleges/nzno_gastroenterology_nurses_college /education_fund) Its inflammatory bowel diseases nurses had partnered with Crohn's NZ and the Society of Gastroenterology
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College chair Tania Mitchell said another 85 ICU beds - a 30 per cent increase nationally over the next three years - announced as part of a $544 million government funding boost amid hospital fears of being overwhelmed by the Delta strain of COVID in 2021, was positive. [...]all 25 of the country's ICUs now met intensive care standards of one nurse educator per 50 nurses - when previously only two did. "New Zealand has the second to lowest number of beds per capital in the OECD [Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development], ahead only of Mexico."
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Culturally safe clinical placements, support for out-of-town learners, mentoring and earning while studying are key to retaining Maori and Pasifika nursing students, says third-year NorthTec bachelor of nursing (BN) student Anna Clarke, (Te Aupöuri, Te Rarawa and the Tongan village of Vaini). * Accommodation: The temporary closure of NorthTec's marae due to COVID was identified by Maori and Pasifika students as the biggest challenge for out-of-town tauira. * Mentoring and peer support: Nursing lecturer Pipi Barton Grants, earn-as-you learn, an indigenised nursing curriculum and flexiblity for transient students are key to recruiting more Maori into nursing, says NorthTec nursing lecturer and PhD student Pipi Barton, (Ngāti Hikairo ki Kawhia). * Grants: "The number one issue is economic hardship particularly for Māori and Pasifika ... we need to alleviate hardship immediately by giving grants to Māori and Pacific students, introduce earn-as-you-learn, first for Māori and Pacific, then for everybody." * Indigenised curricula: "The curriculum is very Euro-centric - polytechs enrol Māori but don't retain Māori . . . nursing programmes are going to become more indigenised, with Te Pukenga". * A unified curricula across schools: "A unified curriculum so no matter where you are, if you move around, it's not going to impact on you negatively or have any additional costs" - Barton is involved with writing the unified nursing curricula for Te Pukenga Pacific nursing educator Tania Mullane "Curriculum can be transformational." "If you want to increase the workforce, then you have to provide some kind of support for students in health care, when they're in clinical practice." Whitireia's head of Pacific nursing Tania Mullane says the BN Pacific enjoys higher than average graduation rates - almost 80 to 90 per cent compared to around two-thirds nationally - to which Mullane attributes a "wraparound" approach.
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NZNO invited members to respond to Little's assertions (https://www.stuff.co.nz /national/128987661/hospitals-under-pressure-but-health-system-coping-healthminister-andrew-little-says) that while there were "significant pressures" the health system was coping - made a day after a 51-year-old woman had a brain haemorrhage and died (<https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/300614947 /a-woman-left-ed-because-of-long-waits-hours-later-she-had-a-fatal-brainhaemorrhage>) last month after leaving Middlemore Hospital's emergency department due to the waiting times. 'Absolute' crisis decades in the making NZNO kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku said "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". Former leader of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Ian Powell earlier this month described Little's ongoing denial of a crisis in the health system as "[incomprehensible (https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/129153136/thereturn-of-angry-andy-the-health-minister-who-is-denying-the-obvious)".
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Goulter said estimated nursing vacancies of 4000 were "not even close" to what what was needed - which was more nurses, caregivers and more Maori and Pasifika health staff. Political power - making the nursing crisis a major issue for the 2023 General Election - organising widespread action on the ground and maintaining public support were key elements to success, Goulter said. Canadian Nurses Association chief executive Tim Guest spoke about the impact of COVID on nurses' mental health, and how nurses could be powerful voice for change if they rose up together.
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Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced on Thursday May 19, $11.1 billion of new funding to run the health system over the next two years, plus $76 million for "workforce development" over the next four years - an amount Goulter described as "loose change". There were more than 4000 nursing vacancies, difficulties finding enough mental health staff and widening gaps in pay between the public and private health sectors, Renney said. Other health spending includes: * $76 million to grow the health workforce. * $1.3 billion for health infrastructure such as hospital buildings. * $202 million for mental health services. * $191 million for Pharmac over two years. * $166 million for road ambulances. * $90 million for air ambulances. * $168 million for the Maori Health Authority over four years. * $70 million for Pasifika health over four years. * $488 million for primary care. * $1.2 billion for COVID-related public health.
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Waikato District Health Board (WDHB)'s emergency department was down nine registered nurses (RNs) over the weekend due to COVID sickness/contact, while pressure was intensifying in Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury. Waikato Waikato Hospital's emergency department (ED) was under growing strain, too, as registered nurses (RN) dropped off the roster due to COVID contact, NZNO organiser Nigel Dawson said. Sunday night on Facebook, Dawson said NZNO delegates were reporting 23 patients with just three nurses;patients still in the waiting room, untriaged;the triage area being used as bed space;along with a lack of support from doctors, who were saying 'this is how it is now, get on with it'.
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NZNO kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku said the public health order change was another in a series of desperate changes to deal with the nursing shortage. Director of Public Health Caroline McElnay said on March 8 that critical health-care workers with COVID would be allowed to return to work earlier than usual if their absence would halt a critical health service. McElnay said it was a "pragmatic" approach to allow the health system to keep functioning, which "balances the significant risk to patients when hospital services are not being able to operate against the small risk to patients from staff who have COVID with all the protections in place".
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Nuku spoke on the TVNZ Breakfast (https://www.facebook.com/Breakfaston1/videos /469835044821820/) show about the impact of public health order changes that allowed COVID-19 positive nurses to voluntarily return to work in COVID-19 wards. Daniels - who works in Dunedin Hospital's emergency department - told Radio New Zealand (https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/lately/audio/2018834657/nurses-bumt-out-amidsthealth-system-crisis) everyone was "doing it hard" amid a staffing crisis, despite directorgeneral of health Ashley Bloomfield's claims to the contrary. The Government's safe staffing review (<https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents /publications/nursing-safe-staffing-review-final_report-feb22.pdf>) found 83 per cent of staff said that patients were not receiving complete care on understaffed shifts last year.
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March 24, 2022 Health Minister Andrew Little this week announced plans to double the number of registered nurses doing specialist mental health and addictions training from 234 to around 500, in two years. Mental Health Nurses Section (MHNS) chair Helen Garrick said community mental health nurses in particular had been heavily impacted by COVID over the past two years, as they tried to support people often living in "dire" conditions who lagged in vaccination uptake. [...]this week, the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission released its report on mental health and addiction, which found little improvement in mental health services since 2019, despite $1.9 billion allocated for mental health and wellbeing.
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A four-hour online course is not enough to train nurses to work in intensive care during a COVID-19 surge, says NZNO's College of Critical Care Nurses chair Tania Mitchell. "The number [Health Minister] Andrew Little has given, 1400 surge nurses, gives the impression there's a huge workforce ready to help, but the reality among critical care nurses doesn't feel quite that good." Little has also said the country's 289 intensive care/high dependency unit beds could be increased to 500 in a surge.
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NZNO acting manager professional and nursing services Kate Weston said while NZNO urged members to get boosted as soon as possible, it had argued for a more supportive, less hardline, approach by the Ministry of Health (MoH). The Government on January 23 updated its COVID-19 Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Order to require a wider variety of frontline workers to be boosted, including workers in managed isolation/quarantine facilities and across the health and disability system. NZNO membership support centre acting lead advisor Georgina Araboglos said the number of calls from members concerned about the booster had been on the increase this month. get boosted as soon as you want to after you become eligible.
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While pay rates for their district health board (DHB) colleagues rise steadily over successive collective agreements and high-profile strike action, "our nurses are feeling devalued, underappreciated and not listened to", Seymour said. Add to this roiling dissatisfaction a sudden drying up of an immigrant workforce that makes up about 50 per cent (and up to 70 per cent in some cases) of staff, according to the NZ Aged Care Association (NZACA) - and you have an explosive staffing shortage on your hands. Aged care is also competing with DHBs, which are on a recruitment drive to fill 500 RN vacancies and meet safe staffing levels agreed with NZNO in 2018 - being hammered out again in the current bargaining round.
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While she remains active - she enjoys walking and going to the gym - she says she's thinking about stepping down by Christmas - properly this time. * 'Coherent push' needed for nurse leadership AUCKLAND NURSE Judy Kilpatrick - Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to nursing - says she achieved nothing alone. [...]the health service needed to change the way it delivered care in hospitals and communities - "nurses might be the best leader of the team", she said. Kilpatrick also chaired the Nursing Council from 1996-2002, during which time the council began developing its regulatory framework and negotiating legislative changes to allow NPs to practise in New Zealand.
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Megan Stowers (Ngapuhi) had been providing cultural support to Maori patients informally in her various roles at Waikato District Health Board (DHB) critical care unit for years. "The hard thing for Maori was [missing] the kanohi ke ti kanohi - face to face, rongo - the feel, smell and how you perceive a person, and tuhono - the bonding connection you create, which are really important parts of the delivery of care." NZNO professional nursing adviser Angela Clark said the initiative could be a "trail-blazer" for critical care and/ or intensive care units nationwide.