July 29, 2022
Supermarket special nurses high risk
The Nurses Organisation is complaining student nurses are being called into hospital tasks normally done by qualified nurses.
Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku says because of chronic understaffing at Dunedin Hospital, students were asked to do patient-watch work, in exchange for a $200 supermarket voucher.
She says that exposed them to unacceptable risk without any of the legal protections they would have as employees.
“You don’t know what you don’t know. Therefore sometimes you can’t anticipate whether something is a risk or not and it places them in a very vulnerable position,” Ms Nuku says.
She says the Government needs to admit there is a crisis and say how it is addressing it.
Health Ministry deputy director-general John Whaanga says while the hospital system is under a lot of stress, the use of student nurses was an innovative and safe response.