Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Premium
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua midwife shortage: Union co-leader says Covid support fund a 'missed opportunity'

Megan Wilson
By Megan Wilson
Multimedia Journalist·Rotorua Daily Post·
22 Jan, 2022 12:04 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Rotorua mayor and former midwife Steve Chadwick says it had always been challenging to recruit midwives. Photo / Andrew Warner

Rotorua mayor and former midwife Steve Chadwick says it had always been challenging to recruit midwives. Photo / Andrew Warner

A Covid-19 recovery fund that helped retrain people who lost jobs was a "big missed opportunity" to attract new health workers, a midwifery union leader says.

Midwifery Employee Representation and Advisory Service co-leader Caroline Conroy said, in her view, the fund was geared towards people who wanted to be "builders and plumbers", not health professionals such as midwives.

The Government said the fund helped some health-related programmes and was targeted at below degree level to support economic recovery over a "relatively short timeframe".

A shortage of midwives at Rotorua Hospital has seen claims this week of "incredibly unsafe" situations and too few local midwives being trained .

Lakes District Health Board says it is working hard to recruit amid a national and international midwife shortage, and women are still receiving good care thanks to a team effort from local medical professionals.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The Targeted Training and Apprenticeships Fund was announced in mid-2020 to pay learners' costs for vocational education and training as New Zealand recovered from Covid-19.

Midwifery Employee Representation and Advisory Service co-leader Caroline Conroy. Photo / Supplied
Midwifery Employee Representation and Advisory Service co-leader Caroline Conroy. Photo / Supplied

Conroy said the fund supported people who had lost their jobs because of Covid by retraining them for other roles. For people who might have wanted to work in the health sector, however, she claimed it was "a big missed opportunity".

"[The fund] didn't go to anybody that was doing a degree course - all the health professions are degree courses."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She said a lot of people in Rotorua would have lost their jobs due to Covid, especially given the downturn in the tourism sector.

"Unfortunately, the way the Covid re-training funding was structured, they were encouraged to be builders and plumbers, and not health professionals.

Discover more

Midwife union says it saw shortage 'emerging' three years ago

19 Jan 06:00 PM
New Zealand

Revealed: The vaccination status of our cases and hospitalisations

19 Jan 05:00 PM
New Zealand

'Incredibly unsafe': Concerns raised over Rotorua Hospital's midwife shortage

18 Jan 09:40 PM

'A massive difference': Free health shuttle launches in Kawerau

18 Jan 11:00 PM

"That was probably a significant missed opportunity."

Covid-19 Response and Education Minister Chris Hipkins. Photo / NZME
Covid-19 Response and Education Minister Chris Hipkins. Photo / NZME

Covid-19 Response and Education Minister Chris Hipkins said the fund was designed to respond to the expected impacts of Covid-19. It was primarily to support people, including those who lost their jobs, to train, retrain and gain skills to support New Zealand's economic recovery over a relatively short timeframe.

"As such, it targeted training below degree level, which takes a minimum of three years to complete."

The fund provided "fees-free" training opportunities for a range of vocations and subject areas including some health-related programmes such as community health, and caring for the elderly and people with disabilities.

Health Minister Andrew Little said the number of midwives working in district health boards nationally had increased by 8 per cent over the past few years, from 1413 to 1529.

"We know we are playing catch-up following nearly a decade of underinvestment by the previous Government which has resulted in a workforce shortage across the health system - including midwives.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"The union, district health boards and the Ministry of Health are working together to attract and retain midwives, with a particular focus on employing more Māori and Pacific midwives."

Little said it was the first Government to commit to pay equity, making sure the skills and responsibility of midwives were properly recognised and could make midwifery a more attractive profession.

Rotorua mayor and former midwife Steve Chadwick. Photo / Andrew Warner
Rotorua mayor and former midwife Steve Chadwick. Photo / Andrew Warner

Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick, a former midwife and MP, said workforce planning had "always" been pushing for more midwives to go through training, ever since she was in charge of maternity.

It had always been challenging to fill midwife vacancies, she said.

Chadwick said it was "a very important issue for women" and saw "great hope" in the new Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Bill.

The bill provided for a new structure and new accountability arrangements for the publicly-funded health system, in order to protect, promote, and improve Kiwi's health.

"I hope that will address some of these issues about community-based providers because that is the whole way to go in the future."

Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall. Photo / NZME
Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall. Photo / NZME

Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall said strengthening the maternity system, including addressing the shortage of midwives, was a priority for the health sector and Government.

Budget 2020 included the "largest-ever funding boost" for primary maternity services, with the Government investing $242 million over four years.

This would support a range of initiatives such as strengthening national and local maternity quality and safety programmes and supporting workforce sustainability, she said.

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily Post

'It's on in the Tron': Robertson looking forward to final test

Rotorua Daily Post

'It is unacceptable': Decorated NZ soldier lies in unmarked grave

Rotorua Daily Post

No ‘alarm bells’ about Malachi before his death, daycare says


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

'It's on in the Tron': Robertson looking forward to final test
Rotorua Daily Post

'It's on in the Tron': Robertson looking forward to final test

'It’s rugby country ... you walk down the street, everyone’s so passionate.'

17 Jul 05:00 AM
'It is unacceptable': Decorated NZ soldier lies in unmarked grave
Rotorua Daily Post

'It is unacceptable': Decorated NZ soldier lies in unmarked grave

17 Jul 03:00 AM
No ‘alarm bells’ about Malachi before his death, daycare says
Rotorua Daily Post

No ‘alarm bells’ about Malachi before his death, daycare says

17 Jul 02:32 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP