Health tour: Nurses taking their message on the road

New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) members (from left) Jane Wilkie and Ashleigh Tautau are pictured during a previous occasion when nurses presented their concerns about the health system to the public. The NZNO national bus tour comes to Gisborne on June 20. Photo / Liam Clayton

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation’s national bus tour aimed at raising awareness of the “health crisis” comes to Gisborne on June 20.

NZNO - Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa President Anne Daniels says the organisation was calling on the Government to increase health funding and implement culturally appropriate nurse-to-patient and midwife-to-patient ratios in all healthcare settings.

“We can’t solve the understaffing crisis unless the coalition Government puts more money into health.”

East Coast rural health nurse Gina Chaffey-Aupouri said the Government was removing anything that looked like funding services based on race and not need, but it should take a deeper look before withdrawing this support.

“By taking away these funds they’re perpetuating inequities because they’re not addressing the structural discrimination that currently exists in the health system.”

She wants specific funding to support professional development opportunities within the provider groups, and community-led services where it was difficult to fill vacant positions.

“What we’ve seen is a gradual removal of budget to frontline services and that meant that there had to be compromises and further compromises until there’s very little left.

“Currently, we’re not able to offer primary healthcare and we’re seeing services being closed because of that lack of funding.

People can see that in the aged care services where wards have been shut down.

“We’ve also got services which were once 24-hour ED services closing at five o’clock or GP practices have either closed because of supply and demand issues or they just don’t have staff available.”

She called for increased sustainable funding for iwi Māori partnership boards which would allow engagement and consultation on health within Māori communities.

Over 11 days, three NZNO buses will simultaneously travel down the North and South islands with events organised in towns and cities.

The towns include Gisborne, Whangārei, Kawakawa, Kerikeri, Kaitāia, Kaikohe, Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Whakatāne, Napier, Hastings, Waipukurau, Palmerston North, New Plymouth, Hāwera, Whanganui, Levin, Nelson, Blenheim, Kaikōura, Christchurch, Dunedin, Balclutha, Gore, Invercargill, and Queenstown.