The second of three planned strikes by New Zealand's nurses was to go ahead on August 19 but has been cancelled due to the Covid-19 level 4 lockdown which began from 11.59pm on Tuesday. Nurses are pictured here at the first strike in Mander Park, Whangārei, on June 9. Photo / Michael Cunningham
The second of three planned strikes by New Zealand's nurses was to go ahead on August 19 but has been cancelled due to the Covid-19 level 4 lockdown which began from 11.59pm on Tuesday. Nurses are pictured here at the first strike in Mander Park, Whangārei, on June 9. Photo / Michael Cunningham
An international recruitment campaign designed to boost Northland's number of nurses will kick off in less than a month.
The recruitment drive, spearheaded by the Northland District Health Board (NDHB), comes as nursing shortages grab headlines nationwide.
According to NDHB nursing vacancies in the region are due to expansion ratherthan a lack of nurses.
But a Northland nursing advocate says shortages or not, workloads are the worst they've been in more than a decade.
New Zealand Nursing Organisation Northland organiser Julie Governor says high workloads faced by nursing staff on a daily basis need to improve. Photo / NZME
Northland DHB chief nurse and midwifery officer Maree Sheard said the district health board is set to recruit nurses from the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Singapore.
Sheard said traditionally, the district health board's cohort of nurses employed within New Zealand was complemented by nurses recruited from India and the Philippines.
"However, the Philippines and India are no longer an option for us due to Covid-19.
"The campaign is for Northland DHB recruitment only. However, we are involved in international campaigns run through Kiwi Health Jobs, which are for all DHBs," she said.
Around 5 per cent of the registered nurses offered employment by the district health board since January 1 were based overseas.
Overall, 237 registered nurses had been offered nursing positions in Northland. Twelve were international recruits – two of whom were New Zealand residents or citizens, and one declined.
The remaining 225 were sourced from within New Zealand. These figures excluded staff who moved internally.
Sheard said the district health board currently had no issues with nursing shortages.
"Our employee turnover is reasonably steady and similar to past years. However, there is a worldwide shortage of nurses."
At the beginning of August, there were 110 vacancies in Northland for full-time nurses.
Advertised roles sought registered nurses for the Bay of Islands and Dargaville hospitals; specialists units for infants, intensive care, and coronary; cancer and blood services; general paediatric ward; general wards and the emergency department.
"Our nursing vacancies are greater than last year, which can be attributed to increased staffing requirements for our new theatre extensions, the development of the Acute Assessment Unit and the ever-increasing population growth in the region," Sheard said.
Nursing occupations were absent from Immigration New Zealand's Regional Skills Shortage List, which covers jobs with no New Zealand citizens or residents available to take up the positions.
It suggested Northland needed anaesthetic and medical technicians, resident medical officers, specialist physicians, cardiologists, paediatricians, emergency medicine specialists, ophthalmologists (eye doctors), and midwives.
NZ Nurses' Organisation (NZNO) Northland organiser Julie Governor said the country's DHBs were too reliant on overseas nurses to plug gaps in health resources.
"We always knew there was going to be a global shortage of nurses, Covid has just sped that up."
She said nurses' workloads had increased as demand for health services grew but staff levels had stayed stagnant.
Nurses make up about 70 per cent of the health board's workforce, with 1852 nurses employed by the NDHB.
Governor said in spite of the number of nurses, workloads hadn't eased.
"They are worse ... [nurses] fill gaps, work stretched shifts, come in on their days off, over and above their normal hours, to relieve pain and suffering of the people they care for.
"The guilt at the thought of their colleagues working short and patients not getting the full package of care required weighs heavily on their shoulders," she said.
Past pay increases weren't substantial enough to stop Kiwi nurses ditching home in favour of Australia - where wages were higher, Governor said.
"The pay does not reflect the skills, qualifications, experience, responsibilities, working conditions or the degree of effort required to do this role."
New-graduate registered nurses employed by the district health board start on an annual salary of $52,460 and can earn up to $72,944 after five years.
Their Australian counterparts have an average starting rate of NZ$62,789 and peak at around NZ$73,930.
Health Minister Andrew Little has announced that the Government has given the green light to pay equity negotiations for nurses worth "hundreds of millions of dollars". Photo / NZME
An announcement was made on Tuesday by Health Minister Andrew Little regarding a pay equity claim for nurses.
Little announced said the Government had approved funding for a pay equity claim that could be the "most significant" pay-equity settlement "this country has ever seen".
He expected it to add "hundreds of millions of dollars a year" to the current payroll for nurses.
Nurses, unions, DHBs and the Ministry of Health were urged by Little to start negotiations straight away.
Little was unsure whether it would impact the likelihood of planned strikes by the nation's nurses.
He said the pay equity claim and the collective agreement pay increases and negotiations over staffing and working conditions were two separate negotiations.
Around 30,000 nurses nationwide – including around 1400 across Whangārei, Kaitaia, Dargaville, and the Bay of Islands – were to hit the picket line for an eight-hour strike on August 19.
However the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) said on Tuesday it would withdraw its strike action plans for August 19 after a community case of Covid-19 in Auckland has led to a nationwide lockdown.
NZNO industrial services manager Glenda Alexander said people's health and wellbeing have to remain our number one priority.
"Our issues are important, but it would not be safe or responsible for us to continue with a strike if the country is under lockdown.
"Our members are resolute, and we will continue to look at future strike action, but our members are also health professionals and know that people and their wellbeing are the most important things. We will not put people in danger to make a point.
"One of our main issues has been that staffing levels are unsafe across the health system. We think it is important that all rostered nursing staff are at work should the Covid situation escalate."
They were to be joined by striking healthcare assistants and midwives.
Essential and emergency services would still be available at Northland hospitals. The NDHB was directly contacting people with appointments or surgeries affected by the now cancelled strike action.
