Almost 12,000 people have signed a petition calling on the government to address a funding anomaly that sees registered nurses working in aged care earning, on average, around $10,000 less per year than their counterparts in public hospitals.
The New Zealand Aged Care Association (NZACA) launched the month-long campaign on June 5, inviting support for pay parity for aged care nurses by going to www.fairpay.org.nz, calling on Health Minister David Clark to provide funding that would enable the sector to match the salary packages paid by the DHBs.
The campaign has the strong support of Tina Mills, general manager of Kaitaia rest home Switzer Residential Care, who said nurses were the clinical backbone of rest home and hospital care.
"You cannot have a caregiver and a registered nurse on the same wage, or the DHBs' registered nurses on a different pay rate, with allowances, than aged care nurses," she said.
"Many years ago elder hospital level of care was delivered by the DHBs, and we are thankful that currently this level of care is in our hands. Registered nurses in aged care work very hard, and they take a huge amount of clinical accountability. I am worried about the impact on retention and recruitment in general for the future of the Claud Switzer Memorial Trust."