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The Māori health authority’s chief nursing officer says there is no quick fix to Aotearoa’s dire nursing shortage.
Nadine Gray says there is a global shortage of nurses, and this country struggles to compete on both pay and conditions.
She says Te Aka Whai Ora is encouraging Covid-era kaiawhina to take up formal roles – but training still takes 3 years.
“To train a nurse is something that takes time. Now we’re able to really draw on the levers that exist to create flexibility of how Maori step into health in different ways, in terms of kaiawhina and scaffolding up into regulated health professions,” Ms Gray says.
Peer support and extra funding for health training including grants of up to four-and-a-half thousand dollars will all help – but it still takes time.
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