Gisborne Hospital’s emergency department is facing mounting pressure as nurses prepare to strike over staffing levels they say are putting both patients and exhausted frontline workers at risk.
More than 30 emergency department nurses are expected to stop work for one hour on Wednesday, September 9, from 2.30pm to 3.30pm, as the New Zealand Nurses Organisation escalates concerns about what it considers unsafe staffing.
The industrial action comes during an exceptionally difficult winter for the health system, with Gisborne Hospital dealing with a surge of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus cases alongside increased staff sickness.
Nurses say the situation inside the emergency department has reached breaking point, with some working back-to-back 12-hour shifts as the remaining workforce tries to keep up with demand.
The staffing problem has been compounded by the loss of experienced nurses. The emergency department has reportedly lost 10 senior nurses over the past year, while just two new nurses have been recruited so far this year.
Health New Zealand has proposed additional staffing including 1.4 full-time-equivalent permanent nursing positions, a 0.8 FTE six-month nursing position and a 0.8 FTE healthcare assistant. Nurses argue that is insufficient to replace the experience and capacity lost from the department.
The human impact is also becoming increasingly apparent.
One Gisborne emergency nurse reported working about 30 hours beyond her contracted hours during a single fortnight, while nurses have described exhaustion, low morale and growing anxiety about their ability to provide the level of care patients deserve.
For Tairāwhiti, the pressure carries particular significance. Emergency nursing representatives say the region has significant numbers of patients with complex and chronic conditions alongside limited access to general practice, increasing reliance on hospital services.
PRESSURE SPREADING ACROSS THE COUNTRY
The problems in Gisborne are not isolated.
At Waikato Hospital, emergency nurses have reported more than 300 presentations within a 24-hour period and waits stretching beyond eight to 10 hours. Some patients have reportedly been forced to lie on emergency department floors after becoming exhausted while waiting for care.
The wider health system is simultaneously grappling with a sharp increase in respiratory illness, adding further pressure to already stretched emergency departments.
The Gisborne action follows another health and safety strike at Waitākere Hospital’s Muriwai ward in July, while emergency nursing representatives have indicated similar staffing frustration exists at hospitals including North Shore, Auckland, Middlemore and Christchurch.
HEALTH NZ SAYS EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT WILL REMAIN OPEN
Health New Zealand says Gisborne Hospital’s emergency department will remain open during Wednesday’s planned strike and contingency measures will be put in place to maintain patient care and service continuity.
The organisation says it is reviewing nursing staffing levels in Tairāwhiti to determine the workforce capacity, capability and skill mix required to provide safe care.
Health NZ has also acknowledged August brought particularly high demand alongside increased sickness among clinical staff and says patients with the most urgent medical needs continue to be prioritised.
But the dispute is increasingly about more than one roster or one emergency department.
The decision by more than 30 Gisborne nurses to take health and safety industrial action highlights a growing question for the health system: how long can hospitals continue relying on exhausted staff working additional and extended shifts before workforce shortages begin translating into even greater risks for patients?
For nurses in Tairāwhiti, Wednesday’s walkout is intended to send a clear message that they believe that point has already been reached.
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