June 21, 2024
Hospital nursing jobs choked
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The New Zealand Nurses Organisation says Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora is restricting the employment of graduate nurses because of budget constraints.
Chief executive Paul Goulter says previously hospitals would employ New Zealand-trained graduate nurses as they came out of their degree programmes, but they’re now being told they can go into primary care or aged residential care,.
He says there are very few positions in those areas, they are lower paid, and these roles may not have the structures in place to support and develop graduate nurses as they transition during their first year of practice.
Student nurse Shannyn Bristowe says the pause on the mid-year intake announced this week was demoralising after three years of study.
She says the pay for nurses in primary health, Māori and Iwi providers was up to 30 percent less than nurses working in Te Whatu Ora.