The head of the nurses union has hit back at Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ claim the health sector is in better shape than it was three years ago.
It comes as 57,000 nurses, midwives, health care assistants and kaimahi hauora will hold rallies on Saturday April 15 between 11am and 1pm at 20 locations around the country.
The rallies, organised by the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO), are the first time all 57,000 NZNO members are being called on to rally for united action, regardless of the area of nursing they work in.
NZNO says the issues boil down to the same things for every nurse, “unsafe staffing levels and a fundamental undervaluing of the work they do”.
NZNO CEO Paul Goulter said “I know the Minister won’t call it a crisis, but this is a crisis and for the ones that are left behind, of course, it just becomes worse and worse for them,” he said.
“They get under more pressure. Everyone knows the disaster stories around emergency departments, the waits, they’re being packed up in corridors, etc. as nurses and doctors and other health professionals work really hard to clear those, but they’re just not being resourced.”
Goulter said the reason for the rally on Saturday is that nurses have “had enough” and will not put up with the conditions they work in anymore.
“Health professionals start leaving our health system, and we know that that’s happening right now so that will get worse,” Goulter told AM.
“People will not enter into training to work in health because they keep hearing the disaster stories and ultimately things like industrial action inevitably take place due to the heightened frustrations of people working in health. I don’t think this adds up to a very good picture.”
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