Nurses call for urgent review into Covid hotels

Kerri Nuku. Photo / Paul Taylor

The nurse's union is demanding an urgent review of the isolation management system after two health workers have caught Covid 19 in Christchurch.

Officials are convinced the managed isolation workers picked it up from Russian and Ukrainian mariners who've tested positive while staying at the Sudima Airport Hotel.

Kaiwhakahaere for the New Zealand Nurses Organisation Kerri Nuku said a review is in order.

"This is a system failure so we need to see and identify where in our system has it failed and what are the potential ramifications of that, where else might the system be leaking?"

She said nurses are worried they might be next in line.

"I would say that a lot of healthcare workers across the country are losing sleep every time that there is a covid positive case especially in the community."

Nuku said nurses should be involved in any review that happens.

"We don't know what the next virus is going to be looking like and what it's going to be called so we must make sure that we critically look at the whole system response and let's make sure nursing is a part of that review."