The first national initiative for the Future of Nursing is launched.
The Campaign for the Future of Nursing, November 2, 2005

A vital new national initiative - The Campaign for the Future of Nursing - is being launched this week, to encourage New Zealanders to consider nursing as a career of choice.

The initiative comes at a critical time for nursing in New Zealand, with an estimated shortage of 2,000 nurses. It aims to drive recruitment into this diverse and dynamic profession to help avoid a national shortage crisis. ... First

NZPA, November 2, 2005

A national recruitment drive to boost the number of nurses in New Zealand by at least 2000 is being launched this week.

The Campaign for the Future of Nursing aims to encourage New Zealanders to consider nursing as a career of choice.

The initiative comes at a critical time for nursing in New Zealand, with an estimated shortage of 2000 nurses, set to increase over the next couple of years due to the impact of an ageing workforce. ... National

RNZ/TVNZ Interactive, November 2, 2005

New Zealand is facing a nursing shortage crisis according to a national campaign launched to encourage people into the profession.

The Campaign for the Future of Nursing estimates the country is short 2,000 nurses and has also found that around two thirds of practising nurses are over 40.

A website, national advertising and school liaison teams are all being used to promote the profession.

Kathy Holloway teaches graduate nurses and says nursing as a career has a lot to offer. ... Campaign

New Zealand Nurses Organisation, October 20, 2005

Presbyterian Support has joined the list of aged care providers using government underfunding as an excuse to pay rates that don’t recognise the value of their workforce says the New Zealand Nurses Organisation.

NZNO Organising Services Manager Cee Payne-Harker said the excuse did not wash with their hardworking nurses, caregivers and support workers. ... Aged

New Zealand Nurses Organisation, October 19, 2005

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation is looking forward to working with new Health Minister Pete Hodgson to address priority issues for the health workforce.

NZNO Organising Services Manager Cee Payne-Harker said Pete Hodgson had worked constructively with unions in aged care in his associate Health Minister role.

“At the top of the priority list for our members is fair pay in aged care and pay parity in primary health,” said Cee Payne-Harker. ... NZNO

Strike Action In Southern Presbyterian Support Aged Care To Go Ahead.
New Zealand Nurses Organisation, October 19, 2005

Strike action will go ahead tomorrow in hospitals and rest homes across Southland, Otago and South Canterbury.

380 members of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation and the Service and Food Workers Union will strike from 7 AM to 11 AM and again from 3 PM to 7 PM. The strike will impact on fourteen hospitals and rest homes from Timaru to Invercargill. ... Southern

Up to 380 Presbyterian Support resthome and hospital workers in Southland, Otago and South Canterbury will go on strike this Thursday, leaving the aged care industry in the south in turmoil for the day.
Mandy Gillies, Southland Times, October 18, 2005

The strike will include nurses, caregivers, cleaners, kitchen and other support staff and will run from 7AM to 11AM, then 3PM to 7PM. ... New Zealand Nurses Organisation advocate Lorraine Lobb said pay talks finished on Friday with Presbyterian Support rejecting a union plan for settlement and refusing to set a date for further talks. ... Chaos

Nurses will soon treat and discharge patients at Christchurch Hospital's emergency department as radical steps are taken to reduce long queues for care
Kamala Hayman, The Press, October 15, 2005

More than a year after Australian consultants Peter Brennan and Marcus Kennedy recommended far-reaching changes to reduce overcrowding at the city's only emergency department (ED), conditions remain cramped.

Patients are still routinely treated on trolleys because no beds are available, and many spend more than 12 hours in the department. ... Nurses

Caregivers at 21 Guardian Healthcare rest homes around the country were set to strike for 24 hours from 7AM today.
NZPA, October 6, 2005

About 600 members of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) and the Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU) will be picketing homes run by the Australian-owned company, and over 100 workers are planning to take their protest to parliament at midday.

SFWU spokesman Alastair Duncan said it was a classic "David and Goliath" dispute.

"On the one hand, hundreds of low-paid, hard-working women, and on the other, an overseas-owned operator, rich in cash and poor in spirit," he said. ... Rest home

Severe understaffing in rest homes may be putting residents at risk of falls, says the New Zealand Nurses' Organisation (NZNO).
Kamala Hayman, The Press, October 4, 2005

The union yesterday released a snapshot survey of 40 rest homes, aged-care hospitals and dementia units that it said showed an industry in crisis.

Rest homes had just half the number of carers and nurses indicated in a Health Ministry-endorsed booklet about safe aged care. The total number of caregiver hours were just 56 per cent of those indicated, while nursing hours reached just 53 per cent. ... 'Crisis'

NewsTalkZB, October 4, 2005

A survey revealing significantly low staffing levels in the aged care sector is concerning the Nurses' Organisation.

The survey shows staffing levels are well below Ministry of Health guidelines.

Nurses Organisation Services Manager Cee Payne-Harker says the Government needs to increase funding, so that employers can pay the wages necessary to boost their staffing rosters. However she says it cannot just throw the money out to private providers. ... Nurses

New Zealand Nurses Organisation, October 3, 2005

Staffing levels in aged care are well below Ministry of Health-supported indicators for safe staffing, according to a just-published New Zealand Nurses’ Organisation study.

In August and September, NZNO delegates undertook a snapshot of a variety of aged-care sites to examine nursing and caregiver staff levels. The survey of 40 sites - rest-homes, aged-care hospitals and dementia units - show that staffing levels fall significantly below the indicators issued by the Ministry of Health. The results also indicate that caregivers are undertaking roles more properly done by nurses. ... Staffing

Amanda Cameron, New Zealand Herald, October 2, 2005

A damning new report into the state of the country's aged-care facilities has revealed that staffing levels are well below what the Ministry of Health considers safe.

According to aged care workers, staff shortages are so severe that some elderly patients are only getting showered once a week, with many caregivers now stressed to the point of tears.

The study results, published by the Nurses Organisation and released today, show staffing levels are well below what they should be in almost all of 40 aged-care facilities surveyed around the country. ... Aged

Western Bay of Plenty PHO, September 23, 2005

Western Bay of Plenty Maori can now access a mobile nursing service aimed at detecting illness early and helping unwell people to better manage their own care in the comfort and familiarity of their own homes.

Launched by the Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation (PHO) the centralised mobile whanau nursing service is the first of its kind in New Zealand. This initiative is long overdue and supports the shift in health care from hospitals to the community. ... New Maori

Mia the cardboard cut-out "nurse" began her career yesterday as a watchdog for nursing shortages.
NZPA, September 22, 2005

Her full name is "Missing in Action" and she or copies of her are coming to a hospital near you.

Nurses Organisation members will put a Mia on display in a ward when the number of nurses falls below the number they consider safe.

"If they have got say four rather than five nurses they can prop Mia up at the entrance to the ward to say a nurse is missing," said the union's outgoing president, Jane O'Malley. ... Cardboard