Surgical hospital wards throughout New Zealand were
short-staffed more than half of all day shifts last year,
figures obtained by Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa
New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) show.
NZNO
Chief Executive Paul Goulter says Te Whatu Ora data obtained
by NZNO under the Official Information Act shows between
January and November last year, 56% of all day shifts in
surgical wards across 16 health districts were understaffed
(see table in editor’s notes).
The figures come as
more than 36,000 Te Whatu Ora nurses, midwives, health care
assistants and kaimahi hauora prepare to strike for 24-hours
on Wednesday after Health NZ failed to address their safe
staffing concerns.
Paul Goulter says concerns about
chronic and ongoing staff shortages have been raised
continually throughout the collective agreement bargaining
process which began last September.
“Short staffing
not only puts patients at risk it impacts on the number of
procedures and assessments hospitals can carry out, adding
to wait times.
“Nurses, midwives and health care
assistants want to give their patients the care they need,
when they need it. Instead they are stretched too thin and
their patients are forced to wait for care. This can lead to
unnecessary pain and discomfort for patients and heartbreak
for their friends and whānau watching them
suffer.”
There was such a dire lack of health care
assistants at Christchurch Hospital recently that whānau
were asked to come in and help their loved ones,” Paul
Goulter says
Advertisement – scroll to continue reading
“Our members are exasperated by Te Whatu
Ora’s refusal to address – or even acknowledge – their
concerns for their patients who are being put at risk
because of short-staffing,” he says.
“We encourage
anyone who is concerned about the crisis in the health
sector and wants to see patients get the care they need to
join us on picket
lines and marches on Wednesday throughout the motu,”
Paul Goulter says.
Nurses explain in their own words
why they are striking
NZNO President and Dunedin
nurse Anne Daniels, says:
“In my 45 years of nursing I
have never seen our public health system in such a state of
failure. We have far too few nurses to provide safe and
timely care. That is hurting our patients, and it is
heartbreaking for us to go to work each day knowing that
despite all our best efforts there are just not enough of us
to stop the escalating avoidable patient harm. Nurses are
not being recruited to replace those who are leaving in
their thousands, and nurses are not being paid competitively
to keep them in New Zealand. Our work conditions are
desperate, and that takes a toll on us all every day.
That’s why I am striking.”
Ashburton nurse Cathy
Wright, says:
“For myself, I believe caring for people
is a privilege. Patients are vulnerable beings, who need and
deserve consistent, good care. They are often not able to
express their concerns especially in a high demand
environment. “I am a nurse with over 40-years’ experience.
Most patients respect my guidance, believe in my knowledge
and feel safe in my care. To protect patient care, nursing
has developed tools to ensure safe staffing (CCDM). “Health
NZ’s latest offer eliminates this safety net. That means
short staffing and increased risk to our
patients!”
South Auckland nurse Liandra Fouche,
says:
“For me it’s about taking part in this strike
action for our whanau. They all deserve safe health care
when they come to our hospitals. They deserve to be able to
access GP clinics and afford them. They don’t deserve to sit
in ED for hours or wait for surgery for up to seven days on
an acute list. They don’t deserve to have to wait three
weeks to see their GP. They don’t deserve to have to choose
between health and food on the table for their little ones.
The New Zealand public deserves better health
care.”
Whakatāne delegate Tracy Black,
says:
“We’re striking because we don’t have a
choice. This Government doesn’t care about nurses or the
people who rely on our public health system. Budgets are
taking precedent over lives. Money and profit are being
placed ahead of the vulnerable people we care for every
single day. Every day, we look after someone’s mum, dad,
aunty, uncle, sibling, nanny, koro, or pēpi. But without
enough nurses, we’re forced to make impossible choices.
That means some whānau miss out on the care they need and
deserve. “That’s not tika. It’s not manaakitanga. And
it’s not the kind of care our communities should have to
accept. We’re calling for safe staffing not just for
ourselves, but to protect the health, dignity, and wellbeing
of every person and every whānau we care for every single
day.”
Hutt Valley nurse Nathan Clarke,
says:
“Staff going on strike have been forced into
this position by Health NZ and Health NZ’s refusal to
cement staff and patient safety into the nurses employment
agreement. For nurses to go on strike, sacrificing their own
financial situation for complete strangers in an attempt to
get safety for those whom they care for shows how much they
care for the people they look after now and going into the
future.
“The reason I’m striking is to bring to the
forefront the continued and constant understaffed working
environments. Health NZ must focus on recruitment and
retention of staff to prevent our health care system from
near collapsing through under staffing and not valuing the
worth of its employees.”
Whanganui nurse Eugene
Kennelly, says:
“For me it’s about halting the
erosion of our public health care system. The biggest asset
Te Whatu Ora has is its staff, along with the skills,
goodwill and commitment of those staff. New Zealand has a
health care system that expects and demands excellence,
while barely adequate resources allow the maintenance of
minimally acceptable standards and where staff bear the
responsibility for any shortfall of desired outcomes. We
cannot expect goodwill and commitment to continue where
maximum output is expected while minimal resources are
provided. Te Whatu Ora is on its knees. These are our knees,
and they are hurting.”
Rotorua nurse Amy Donnell,
says:
“For me it’s about standing with my colleagues
to make our voices are heard. For too long Health New
Zealand/Te Whatu Ora has ignored our plea for safe staffing.
Having this part of our contract is the only way we can
ensure the safety of our staff well-being and our
patients’ well-being. When the pressure due to unsafe
staffing levels is on nurses, they are at a higher risk of
making mistakes for the people they are caring for, which
can have terrible consequences. It can also lead to burnout
and higher rates of staff leaving the profession. The latest
collective agreement fails to take nurses voice into
consideration and our needs as a vital
profession.”
Taranaki nurse Glenda Huston,
says:
“For me it’s about protecting and growing our
workforce. We have lost 30,000 nurses to Australia in the
past year, and while we remain underfunded and understaffed,
we will keep losing more. One of our claims was for our new
graduates to be guaranteed employment, and unfortunately Te
Whatu Ora won’t commit to do this. “The reality for a lot
of New Zealand nursing graduates is a large student loan and
little hope of employment. We have to fight to protect the
future of healthcare, our nurses and health care assistants
and try to stem the steady flow heading overseas. Patient
care is our priority, and to we need adequate safe staffing
levels to enable this – we need to be fully recruited and to
retain our new graduates to ensure a healthy
workforce.”
Wellington nurse Hilary Gardner,
says:
“We are striking because patient safety is at
risk every day due to chronic understaffing and
under-resourcing. We simply don’t have enough nurses to
provide the level of care our patients need and deserve.
It’s not safe, and it’s not fair – for patients, their
whānau, or the staff trying to care for them. We’ve
raised concerns time and time again, but nothing changes –
so now we’re taking action to stand up for safer
care.”
South Canterbury (Timaru) nurse Michelle
Marshall, says:
“We’re striking to protect
Aotearoa’s public health system-because safe staffing
saves lives, keeps care close to home, and ensures a future
for nursing. This is about whānau safety, community
wellbeing, and honouring every Kiwi’s right to quality
healthcare. Our families deserve better, and we’re
standing up for them.”
Waitemata nurse Jean Moor,
says:
“For me it is about safe staffing and protecting
our new and upcoming nurses. I am at the end of my career
but for those starting out we need to protect them and we
need to protect our patients. I am disgusted that the other
day I had a patient who had collapsed and there I was doing
an ECG on him in a lazy boy in the corridor. How is that
acceptable. Our patients don’t deserve to be treated in
corridors nor do our nurses need to look after more patients
than they can do justice to. It is not safe, we are losing
nurses to overseas and they are leaving the workforce
because of the risk to their practice and to their
patients.
“In order to attract nurses we need at least
the cost of living increase in our wages. We cannot afford
to lose nurses overseas. KEEP OUR NURSES
HERE!!!”
Christchurch nurse Debbie Handisides,
says:
“We, the nurses are striking not because we want
to but have to. For far too long, we’ve been working under
conditions that are not only unsustainable for us but unsafe
for the people we care for the public. Many of us are
experiencing burnout, stress, and fatigue. We’re being
asked to do more with less, fewer staff with rising patient
numbers.
“This is not just about feeling tired, it’s
about being pushed past the point where we can safely do our
jobs. staffing shortages are putting patients’ safety at
risk. When there aren’t enough nurses, care is delayed
mistakes happen and lives are put in danger this is not a
standard of care we trained for.
“We know strikes are
disruptive. But we also know that silence is more dangerous.
We’re standing up now so that nurses can stay in the
profession and so patients can get the care they deserve.
This is about protecting public
healthcare.”
Wellington nurse Mel Anderson,
says:
“For me I am striking because our health system
is at breaking point. Staff are not being replaced, our
wards are understaffed and nurses are continuing leave for
Australia. We came so far with pay equity and we being
asking to take a pay cut essentially. So many of our new
graduate nurses have not got jobs, these are trained skilled
New Zealanders Which means we are not growing our own. We
not just doing this for us, we are doing this for a better
health care system.”
Wellington nurse Aria Blaikie,
says:
“I’m striking because Te Whatu Ora are placing
patients at unacceptable and unnecessary risk by refusing to
guarantee safe staffing levels, even though the CCDM system
has proven that wards are under-resourced. Their latest
offer is just a small pay rise, but nothing ensures hiring
more graduates or fixing staffing ratios. Positions aren’t
being filled, workloads are increasing, and both patients
and nurses are at risk. The system is broken and striking is
our last resort to try and fix it.”
Waikato nurse
Tracy Chisholm, says:
“The future of New Zealand
depends on a functioning health system. We’re not striking
because we want to – we’re striking because safe patient
care demands it. HNZ must adequately staff its operations
for the sake of New Zealand’s health. Our future depends on
having healthy, well citizens who are educated, trained, and
capable of working. None of this is possible when people are
sick, injured, and unable to access the care they
need.
“Health needs an all-of-government commitment to
a sustainable path forward. This approach would save money
currently wasted on redundancies, restructures, and
inefficient management at organisational leadership levels –
every time the government
changes.”
Notes:
- The nationwide strike will
be held from 9am on Wednesday 30 July until 9am on Thursday
31 July. - Details of localised strike day actions can
be found on the NZNO
Maranga Mai! website. - The strike will be a
complete withdrawal of labour at every place in New Zealand
where Te Whatu Ora provides health care or hospital care
services. - Life preserving services will continue to
be provided
.
© Scoop Media