An extra 380 nurses, midwives and healthcare assistants are set to be recruited into hospitals across Aotearoa, but the country’s largest nurses’ union says the announcement comes after frontline staff have already endured a brutal winter.
Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa New Zealand Nurses Organisation says additional workers are welcome, but argues chronic understaffing has been placing both patients and healthcare workers under pressure for the past two years.
NZNO Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku says nurses and midwives have had to contend with the worst influenza outbreak in a decade, overcrowded hospitals and lengthy emergency department waits before the additional staffing was announced.
The union is now calling on Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora to get the 380 workers onto hospital floors as quickly as possible.
NZNO claims recruitment controls requiring regional approval have contributed to lengthy delays filling vacancies, with some high-needs areas taking as long as six months to bring new staff onboard. It wants the new positions fast-tracked rather than caught in those processes.
The union is also challenging Government claims about growth in the nursing workforce. NZNO says Health Minister Simeon Brown has acknowledged that the net increase in hospital-based nursing positions since the Coalition took office was 54 full-time-equivalent roles, while the Government has pointed to broader increases in the nursing workforce.
The PSA has separately welcomed additional recruitment but says vacancies remain widespread, pointing to around 70 vacancies in Counties Manukau and 35 at Auckland’s Mason Clinic as examples of continuing workforce pressure.
For NZNO, the immediate test will be how quickly the promised workers move from an announcement into understaffed wards and services.
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