Mental health nurse Grant Brookes joined others protesting in Levin for more health funding. He said the health system was in "crisis".
Mental health nurse Grant Brookes joined others protesting in Levin for more health funding. He said the health system was in "crisis".
The word “crisis” rolls out freely when talking to health workers picketing in a desperate plea for more frontline staff.
New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) organised the Ratio Justice Bus Tour protests to raise awareness of what it calls “the health crisis facing Aotearoa New Zealand”.
A group protested in Levin on Monday afternoon. Other protests have been organised in Whangārei, Kawakawa, Kerikeri, Kaitāia, Kaikohe, Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Whakatāne, Gisborne, Napier, Hastings, Waipukurau, Palmerston North, New Plymouth, Hāwera, Whanganui, Nelson, Blenheim, Kaikōura, Christchurch, Dunedin, Balclutha, Gore, Invercargill and Queenstown.
Mental health nurse Grant Brookes joined the protest in Levin. He said it was his day off. He freely used “crisis” to describe what he was seeing on the frontline.
Nurses who joined the protest in Levin (from bottom left) Lindsay Warren, Jaime Bunn, Sapphira Murray, Karene Walton, Grant Brookes, Lyn Kirby and Manny Down.
Brookes had worked as a nurse since graduating in 1996 and had never seen the sector so understaffed. While the previous Government had acknowledged 4800 more nurses were needed, he said that did not account for the number of nurses leaving the profession or heading offshore.
“There is a massive shortage of nurses. We are asking for minimum staffing ratios like they have in Australia and other countries,” he said.
“Patient safety is at risk. All we are saying is give us more of us.”
Brookes said recruiting nurses from overseas was a short-term solution to a problem that had been worsening for years. Nurses required three years of tertiary training, and more than 30 per cent did not complete their degree.
“The cost of living is a major reason for that and there needs to be practical support to help students complete their degree. We welcome overseas nurses, but that’s a stop-gap measure,” he said.
“It’s a three-year pipeline, so this has been building for a long time and needs attention. Now.”
NZNO president Anne Daniels said the organisation was calling on the Government to increase health funding and implement culturally appropriate nurse-to-patient and midwife-to-patient ratios in all healthcare settings.
“We can’t solve the under-staffing crisis unless the coalition Government puts more money into health. However, in Budget 2024 the bulk of health funding that was announced was committed to meeting cost pressure funding,” she said.
“This means there is limited funding for new initiatives in health and nothing concrete announced for nurses, midwives and health care assistants.”
Daniels and other senior NZNO members are visiting towns and cities throughout the country to relay the health risks people and their whānau face if ratios are not mandated soon.
More nurses were desperately needed and having culturally appropriate ratios was the best way to ensure the best and most efficient health service for all New Zealanders, she said.
“Most states in Australia as well as Ireland and Wales, and California in the US and British Columbia in Canada, now have fixed nurse-to-patient ratios to improve the quality of healthcare. Many developing countries are also implementing the system.
“Since being introduced in Australia nearly 10 years ago they’ve resulted in fewer admissions and shorter hospital stays, resulting in better patient outcomes and tens of millions being saved in the health budget.”
