By STAFF REPORTERS and NZPA
The nursing shortage is forcing the cancellation of operations in Wellington, while Auckland hospitals are struggling to fill nearly 260 vacancies.
Health Minister Annette King, under fire for her response to the shortage, is looking for answers from the health workforce advisory committee her Government is setting up.
Five patients at Wellington Hospital had operations cancelled on Monday because of a nursing shortage doctors describe as critical. The hospital's intensive care unit needs 20 more nurses.
The national shortage, particularly of experienced nurses, has been blamed on low pay, high student debt, lucrative job offers overseas, and high levels of stress.
Its impact has been compounded by the shortage of junior doctors.
Graduate nurses are paid about $27,000 basic annual salary, compared with $A31,059 ($39,819) in Victorian public hospitals.
A Herald survey of public hospitals in the upper North Island yesterday found Auckland with the worst shortages.
Auckland Healthcare, which runs the Auckland, Green Lane, National Women's and Starship children's hospitals, needs 195 nurses to reach its usual complement of about 3000.
South Auckland Health has 44 vacancies and Waitemata Health is short 20 nurses.
Waitemata nursing director Jocelyn Peach said it was "tighter than usual" this winter as there were fewer internal bureau and outside agency nurses available, partly because more were being attracted overseas.
None of the three companies had cancelled any surgery.
Lakeland Health, which closed some beds at Rotorua Hospital last winter due to a nursing shortage, was again short despite recruiting from South Africa, England and Ireland.
National's associate health spokeswoman, Lynda Scott, accused Annette King of doing little to stop the crisis or allay the fears of nurses, despite Labour's pre-election rhetoric.
The Nurses' Organisation chief executive, Brenda Wilson, said she was grateful the Government was setting up the workforce advisory committee but "would like to see some action on it."
Annette King said the workforce had to be planned properly so the committee, which must have the right people on it, would probably take another three months to set up.
Despite her previously instructing hospitals that pay settlements this year should be "cost neutral" unless rises were needed for recruitment and retention, she said yesterday that the Government did not determine wage levels.
Hospitals had been allocated more money in the Budget and it was for them to negotiate pay and conditions with staff, Annette King said.
But one senior hospital source said the expectation, given Government directives, was that pay would rise less than 1 per cent on average in the sector.
Northland Health said it had enough nurses apart from highly experienced staff.
The general manager of Tauranga Hospital, Alan Wilson, said it had a full staff of about 250 nurses.
Waikato Hospital, which employs about 2000 nurses, said it was not experiencing a staffing crisis, and in fact had nine more nurses on the payroll than this time last year.
Shortage of nurses reaching crisis point
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