A "handful" of nurses from the Lakes District Health Board have been isolating this week after being identified as contacts to the Delta outbreak.
It comes as Cabinet is meeting to discuss whether to change alert level 4 restrictions in place until 11.59pm tonight for the country, aside from Auckland. New Zealand's biggest city is in lockdown until 11.59pm on Tuesday, with the strong likelihood this will extend.
A Lakes DHB spokeswoman confirmed this week it was seeking staff to cover for those isolating.
"There are many nurses and other health staff who need to be in isolation themselves due to being contacts in Auckland or Coromandel."
However, with elective services postponed while the country remains in alert level 4 the impact was not as bad as it could have been, the spokeswoman said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW LIVE BLOG
STORY CONTINUES "[It is] busier than usual due to the number of staff needing to isolate at home, and with increasing numbers of family members of staff isolating.
"Staffing was adequate for the numbers of patients and staff present."
The number of nurses needing to cover shifts changed depending on hospital admissions and how many elective services were scheduled.
Rotorua residents awaiting a Covid-19 test. Photo / NZME
Support for Covid-19 community testing centres and the three managed isolation facilities also impacted the number of staff needed.
"On an average business-as-usual day we have been needing 15 registered nurses per 24 hours to cover short notice leave and current vacancies. This varies throughout the year and depends on the number of vacancies and sickness at any time."
The spokeswoman confirmed there was a larger number of vacant positions at the hospitals as a result of having three Managed Isolation Facilities and a large immunisation programme under way.
"We have been actively recruiting both in New Zealand and overseas, and have been working hard not to recruit nurses out of hospital clinical areas.
"As part of this, we have tried with our Covid Immunisation and Managed Isolation Facilities to focus on recruiting nurses coming back to nursing and nurses who are not currently in the workforce, where this is possible.
"That said, some of the nurses in managed isolation facilities and Covid immunisation would otherwise have been able to be attracted to hospital nursing."
That's despite a health order stating household members of close contacts are required to stay home until the close contact has returned a negative day five test.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said hospitals were identifying the lowest-risk people they could have working at the moment so the health system could continue to function.
However, New Zealand Nurses Organisation kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku said this was a clear example of the challenges facing nurses, which has led them to take industrial action.
"Successive governments have not listened, and nurses have just been told over and over to do more with less. The result of this is what you see now, where the Government has changed the Ministry of Health's public health advice because the DHBs don't have enough staff.
"It just makes no sense and further underscores the very urgent need to address short staffing by recognising and rewarding nursing so it's a job people will want to do."
The Lakes DHB spokeswoman confirmed it was operating in accordance with national safe staffing practices.
"There are systems and processes in place to alert managers immediately of any safe-staffing issues so that they can be addressed in real-time.
"Lakes DHB nurses have been very supportive of maintaining staffing during periods of high patient demand by picking up additional shifts. Our nurses are working hard and maintaining very good care of their patients."
