Nelson facing nursing shortage in five years board told

Nelson and Wairau Hospitals will face a critical nursing shortage in five years if a better environment is not provided to attract and retain staff, a health committee has been told.

Director of nursing Phillipa Molloy has told the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board's hospital advisory committee that the board has five years to "get this sorted".

"We have a window of opportunity to avoid going through the difficulties that other DHBs have had to face when they simply could not find a nurse anywhere," she said.

While the region has had a relatively stable nursing staff in the past, the workforce was rapidly ageing and young graduates were not coming into the region, Mrs Molloy said.

The average age of Nelson and Marlborough nurses is 44.8 years.

Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology has 44 nursing students, of whom just 15 are in their 20s.