Te Whatu Ora data released today shows patients are
continuing to be put at risk by the Coalition Government’s
deliberate failure to safely staff hospital wards, NZNO
says.
The NZ Herald today
released data (available on request) on the 2025
staffing of 663 wards nationwide. It showed nearly half of
all wards (42%) were understaffed more than a quarter of all
shifts in last year.
Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o
Aotearoa NZNO delegate and Hawke’s Bay nurse Noreen
McCallan says many of the wards with the greatest nurse
shortages are those with the most vulnerable
patients.
“More than one-third (38%) of our Emergency
Departments (ED) were understaffed more than half of the
time last year.
“NZNO has consistently raised concerns
that understaffing is dangerous. Sadly, earlier this month a
man died after becoming unconscious in the waiting room of a
busy Waikato Hospital ED which has been plagued
with short staffing,” she says.
The 2025 data also
shows more than half of all children’s wards (53%) were
understaffed one in every five shifts and more than a
quarter of surgical wards (27%) were understaffed more than
a third of all shifts, Noreen McCallan says.
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“Mental
health continues to be understaffed at crisis levels with
eight out of the 10 most understaffed wards last year being
mental health wards. Most worryingly, one in ten mental
health wards were understaffed for more than 80% of all
shifts last year.
“Again, NZNO has continued to raise
concerns about short staffing at mental health facilities
such as Hillmorton
in Christchurch.
“In the past two years, NZNO
delegates have met
with MPs, written
to Te Whatu Ora leaders, taken strike
action and undertaken surveys
of our members.
“There have also been two recent
Coronial inquests finding short staffing contributed to
patient deaths in Taranaki
ED and in Palmerston
North
Hospital.
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