The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) staged nationwide rallies earlier this month to highlight staff shortages and impediments to graduation among nursing students.
In a media statement to promote what it called “a National Day of Action’’, the NZNO said: “During the year ending 31 December more than a quarter of nursing shifts were below safe standards and some wards operated below safe staffing levels nearly all of the time.’’
NZNO Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku said nursing staffing is in extreme crisis with nurses still leaving for Australia on a regular basis, or leaving the profession altogether because their own and their patients’ wellbeing continue to be put at risk.
“Budget 2024 will be released at the end of the month and must include increased funding for health if we are to solve the staffing problem and develop a local nursing workforce that can provide high quality care that meets the physical and cultural needs of all New Zealanders,’’ Nuku said.
Hawke’s Bay’s public medical system isn’t awash with nurses, but those in charge say the current situation is manageable.
“In Hawke’s Bay we closely monitor and manage safe staffing levels across our clinical areas,’’ chief nursing officer and director of patient safety and quality in Hawke’s Bay Karyn Bousfield-Black said.
“We have processes and resources in place to support areas that show a staffing deficit and move these resources as required to maintain safe staffing levels. At times however, some areas do report a shift that has been below the staffing target, but not at the level or frequency that is being reported nationally.’’
In a statement provided to BayBuzz, acting national director for hospital and specialist services, Health New Zealand/Te Whatu Ora Christine Lowry suggested gaps in the system are being adequately plugged.
“Our Health Workforce Plan 2023/2024 estimated New Zealand was short around 4,800 nurses as at July 2023,’’ Lowry said. “We are extremely conscious of the impact of these shortages on patients, nurses themselves and the wider health system. We understand the risks very well.
“In response, the number of nurses employed by Health NZ rose in 2023 by almost 2,500 compared to December 2022. We prioritised our focus on stabilising the different workforce functions which require support the most, for example our mental health and addiction services.
“As at December 2023 our vacancy rate for nurses was down to 6%. At that time, we had around 28,200 nursing FTEs across Health NZ, representing about 38% of our total workforce.
“International recruitment has been a big part of our initial response. As at March 2024 we had supported 3,200 Internationally Qualified Nurses (IQNs) to complete a Competence Assessment Programme (CAP), since August 2022. In order to qualify for this, nurses are required amongst other things, to have a confirmed offer of employment in a direct patient-facing role, such as in hospitals, aged care facilities, GP practices or with mental health and addictions services. Changes to health immigration settings have made a huge difference in making New Zealand attractive to overseas-trained nurses.’’
The NZNO claims that the overseas nurses are required, in part, because local students are not graduating from their degree courses at sufficient rates to meet demand.
“More than a third of nursing students don’t complete their studies and Ms Nuku says this most often results from financial hardship and a lack of cultural support for Maori and Pacific students,’’ the NZNO statement read.
Acting head of school nursing at EIT, Sue Floyd, says that statement is “incorrect’’ in relation to her institution. For the three intakes of Bachelor of Nursing students at EIT between 2021 and 2023, the graduation rate was 76.8%, EIT said in a statement.
“We also recognise the challenges our nursing students have faced over the last three years including Covid-19 and Cyclone Gabrielle,’’ Floyd said.
She says that, while a Bachelor of Nursing is a full-time three-year degree, students have up to five years to complete it. “We have some students who take longer than three years to complete their nursing degree. This is often due to family commitments,’’ said Floyd.
“Even though they do take longer, they do successfully complete their degree, however they are often missed in the completion stats reported.”
The EIT statement to BayBuzz said a recent survey of its nursing students found that they felt culturally supported and that this finding was “reiterated’’ by the Nursing Council.
“The graduation in April was a prime example of this, with a large cohort of students graduating with their Bachelor of Nursing,’’ said Floyd. “What is even more fabulous is the number of nursing graduates who go on to do their Master of Nursing at EIT.”
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