‘Missed meds, delayed treatments, staff pushed beyond limits’: Nurses have a right to safety
'Management might see spreadsheets, but we witness the reality of the 2am rush.'
Pasifika nurses urged to join CENNZ as annual conference wraps up in Auckland
NZNO's college of emergency nurses NZ (CENNZ) held its 30th annual conference in Auckland in March.
Out-of-date laws, red flags and STI home-testing — NZ regulations too lax
Old medical regulations make selling crummy STI home-testing kits easier.
News
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Decision time for members — new offer on the table from Te Whatu Ora
It's decision time for the 36,000 NZNO Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ (HNZ) members as they consider new potential terms of settlement in bargaining. |
News
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Community health nurses win six per cent pay rise after ‘humiliating’ bargaining
Access community health nurses endure eye rolls and being told their concerns are 'boring'. |
News
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Free bowel cancer screening cut-off ‘racist’ say NZNO cancer nurses
NZNO cancer nurses condemn the Government refusal to lower the free bowel screening age to 50 for Māori. |
News
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‘It’s not about the pay’ — Auckland district nurses go on strike
More than 60 district nurses in Auckland are on strike today, saying they are fed up with empty promises and being ignored. |
News
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Aotearoa’s 1000th nurse practitioner stoked to join ‘kick-ass’ circle
Auckland sexual health nurse Rose Hutchinson says while it's pretty random, she is "humbled and proud" to be Aotearoa's 1000th mātanga tapuhi/nurse practitioner. |
Opinion
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‘Missed meds, delayed treatments, staff pushed beyond limits’: Nurses have a right to safety
When nurses hesitate to enter ward doors then something has gone wrong. On workers' memorial day, enrolled nurse Tina Giles shares her thoughts on fighting for workplace safety. |
Opinion
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Why community health screening and education events are crucial
Auckland emergency nurse Sione 'Ulufonua is moved by the hard mahi and passion of health professionals at a recent free community screening day in Tāmaki Makaurau. |
Opinion
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Auckland district nurses say a lack of resources mean they are having to use incontinence pads to dress patients’ leg ulcers. |
Opinion
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Weaving together the strands — why we updated kawa whakaruruhau
The Nursing Council has updated its 2011 cultural safety guidelines. Kaiwhakahaere Waikura Kamo and chief education advisor Annette Huntington share the past, present and future of a document that has grown through generations of nurses. |
Opinion
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‘Growing up with Irihapeti’: Revealing the human behind the nursing leader
Even while being extraordinary, Irihapeti Ramsden was extraordinarily human, daughter Pirimia Burger revealed in her speech in February, reproduced here, marking refreshed kawa whakaruruhau guidance. |
Professional
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Nurse practitioners in Aotearoa: what national surveys tell us
This year we celebrate 25 years of nurse practitioners in Aotearoa. It is a timely moment to reflect on their contributions to health care, how the role has grown -- and what still needs to change, suggests New Zealand's first NP Deborah L Harris. |
Professional
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Strengthening Māori nursing in Aotearoa — helping beat our whakamā
Academic kaiāwhina can offer powerful assistance to Māori nursing students. Now a proposed study for 2026 aims to explore this 'bridge' to whanaungatanga from the students' perspective. |
Professional
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From hospital to home — the power of good written information after discharge
A simple, well-written pamphlet can make a huge difference to patients after discharge. Auckland University nursing students explain why simple language cuts readmissions. |
Features
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Presence and absence in aged residential care: The quiet reality of loneliness and isolation
Nurse and researcher Adetoun Oyekunle reflects on the daily loneliness she's witnessed among aged-care residents. |
Features
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When poet, nurse and Māori health professor Jacquie Kidd, Ngāpuhi, talks to me, it is her 63rd birthday. |
Colleges & Sections
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Women’s health college: Continuing to break barriers in nurse-led care
More nurses than ever are expanding into advanced practice such as colposcopy and hysteroscopy, which can prevent gynaelogical cancers -- but more are urgently needed, says departing college chair Jill Lamb. |
Colleges & Sections
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Pasifika nurses urged to join CENNZ as annual conference wraps up in Auckland
NZNO's college of emergency nurses NZ (CENNZ) held its 30th annual conference in Auckland in March. |
Letters
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Please send letters for publication to: [email protected]. We reserve the right to edit letters for sense and length, and will not publish letters that are libellous, incite racial, sexual or religious hatred or constitute personal attacks. Shorter letters (under 400 words) are preferred. Please include name, address, nursing qualifications and phone number. |
Letters
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Out-of-date laws, red flags and STI home-testing — NZ regulations too lax
Registered nurse Janine Falkiner offers a tongue-in-cheek home-testing case study in her letter that reveals how Australia's medical regulations are better than ours. |
Letters
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Join our nationwide survey on Tiriti-based organisational journeys
Has your organisation been, or is on, a Te Tiriti o Waitangi journey? Researchers exploring how kāwanatanga -- authority to govern -- can be exercised in a truly ethical and te Tiriti-led way, want to hear from you. |
Daily doses – uncut news
| 30 Apr |
BroPilot grounding digital tools in whānau, culture, and care
A passion for his Māori culture and a desire to make AI accessible to everyone inspired Troy Baker, Senior ICT Specialist, Health New Zealand to develop BroPilot – a culturally grounded way of working with Microsoft Copilot that reflects Māori values, whakaaro, and real lived experience.
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| 29 Apr |
Heartbreaking tragedies were avoidable - NZNOAnalysis by a media outlet, published today, finding health care staff shortages were contributing factors in the deaths of 11 babies is a national and avoidable tragedy, NZNO says. |
| 28 Apr |
CTU launches Roving Health and Safety Representatives policy on Workers’ Memorial DayThe New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi has today launched our Roving Health and Safety Representatives policy at the Workers’ Memorial Day commemoration in Wellington, with further events held across the motu in Manawatū, Christchurch, and Otago. |
| 24 Apr |
“The 80s Calling”: New national campaign challenges outdated HIV stigmaAssociate Health Minister Matt Doocey today launched Health New Zealand’s “The 80s Calling”; a provocative new campaign designed to reduce stigma, normalise conversations about HIV, and support people living with HIV. |
| 23 Apr |
Government’s attack on Māori health raised at the UNConcerns over the Coalition Government’s active reversal of policies designed to improve Māori health outcomes were raised at the United Nations in New York this morning. |
| 16 Apr |
Tribute to Professor Lester Levy’s service to healthcareHealth New Zealand Chief Executive Dr Dale Bramley is paying tribute to Health NZ Board Chair Professor Lester Levy, who finishes in the role at the end of the month. |
| 10 Apr |
Chronic health care assistant short staffing harming vulnerable patientsTe Whatu Ora’s attempt to cut costs by requiring health care assistants to carry out cohort patient watches is harming vulnerable patients and staff, NZNO says. |
| 9 Apr |
New group education clinics speeding up knee and hip surgery careHealth New Zealand is rolling out a new group education approach for people waiting for hip and knee surgery in north and west Auckland, resulting in more patients being seen sooner. |
| 25 Mar |
National Diabetes Roadmap launched to improve care, prevention, and quality of lifeHealth New Zealand has launched a new National Diabetes Roadmap (‘the Roadmap’) to improve care, strengthen prevention, and support better health outcomes and quality of life for people living with diabetes. |
| 24 Mar |
ACT should leave nursing to professionals and medical evidenceTōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku says ACT MP Todd Stephenson has dismissed the Nursing Council’s draft code of conduct - which proposes strengthening cultural safety, whānau-centred care and te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations - as political ideology. |
| 23 Mar |
UK report reflects ICN warnings on international recruitment ripoff — now countries must act togetherThe International Council of Nurses (ICN) warmly welcomes a new report from the UK All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Global Health and Security that recognizes the huge sums saved by high-income countries who recruit abroad and acknowledges the severe harms caused by unethical recruitment from fragile source countries left without nurses. |
| 20 Mar |
HPV self-test boosts cervical cancer screening ‘across the board’, new study confirmsMaking human papillomavirus (HPV) self-testing available to all women increases the number of people screened for cervical cancer, a new study led by researchers from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington has confirmed. |
| 19 Mar |
ICN at CSW70: Violence against nurses is a gendered crisis threatening global healthThe International Council of Nurses (ICN) has warned that violence against nurses is a global gendered crisis that threatens health systems, patient safety and workforce sustainability |
| 17 Mar |
Additional winter health care workers a drop in the ocean of needThe Government’s announcement today of 378 extra staff to help hospitals cope with winter demand is a drop in the ocean of what patients need, NZNO says. |
| 12 Mar |
Funding change will ensure more consistent emergency care for New ZealandersA simple change in how ambulance medicines are funded is set to create more consistent emergency care. |
| 9 Mar |
Questions over dilapidated and cramped renal unit forced to ration dialysisThe Health Minister must explain why after years of concerns from nurses about Christchurch Hospital’s barely functioning dialysis unit, he only stepped in late yesterday when life-saving treatment had to be rationed, NZNO says. |
| 3 Mar |
Hospitals and health workers should never be targetsThe right of health care workers to provide care during international conflicts must be protected, Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO says. |
| 2 Mar |
Public and Mental Health Nurses settle collective agreementHealth New Zealand welcomes the ratification of the two Public Service Association (PSA) Public and Mental Health Nurses collective employment agreements for Auckland and the Rest of New Zealand. |
| 27 Feb |
Whakatāne Hospital to resume secondary obstetrics and gynaecology servicesWhakatāne Hospital will resume secondary obstetrics and gynaecology services from 8am on 13 April 2026. |
| 26 Feb |
Counsellors warn NZ is normalising crisis levels of youth distressYouth mental distress has become entrenched, suicide remains a national tragedy, and our systems are failing to intervene early enough, says the New Zealand Association of Counsellors (NZAC). |
| 26 Feb |
Record uptake nearly doubles advanced nurse education scholarshipsA record 235 primary care registered nurses will begin advanced education this year – nearly doubling the number originally planned – following strong demand for the Government’s new Registered Nurse Primary Care Scholarships, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. |
| 19 Feb |
‘Top Up’ to deliver faster access to supportSeven grassroots mental health initiatives supporting small and hard-to-reach communities have received funding to deliver faster access to support, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey announced today. |
| 18 Feb |
Pharmac proposes funding new treatments that could transform early care for people with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, a type of blood cancerPeople in New Zealand living with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) could soon benefit from funded access to targeted treatments under a new proposal from Pharmac. |
| 13 Feb |
Te Whatu Ora’s embarrassing U-turn over proposed car park planTe Whatu Ora needs to go back to the drawing board and prioritise worker safety after reversing plans to charge hospital workers market rates for car parks, NZNO says. |
| 11 Feb |
Stark differences in COVID-19 vaccination rates between Māori and non-Māori, research findsA new study analysing COVID-19 vaccine uptake has found markedly lower vaccination rates among Māori, which researchers link to existing inequities in healthcare access. |
| 9 Feb |
ICN’s call for International Nurses Day 2026: empower nurses to save livesICN has announced the theme for International Nurses Day (IND) 2026: Our Nurses. Our Future. Empowered Nurses Save Lives. This focus sends a clear message that to maximize the full life-saving impact of the nursing workforce, we must empower nurses with safe, fair work environments and full nursing practice, influence, and leadership. |
| 5 Feb |
Global nurse leaders gather in Japan to address urgent workforce crisisNursing leaders from Japan and around the world are gathering in Yokohama this week for two major nursing events that are advancing the global conversation on how countries can protect, retain and invest in their nursing workforce as pressures mount across health systems worldwide. |
| 4 Feb |
Midwives to deliver more vaccinations to help protect familiesMidwives are now able to offer a wider range of funded immunisations, supporting families from pregnancy through the early months of a child’s life, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. |
| 30 Jan |
Opening of E Tū Wairua Hinengaro – Mason ClinicHealth New Zealand has marked the opening of E Tū Wairua Hinengaro, a new purpose-built facility at Auckland’s Mason Clinic designed to strengthen and modernise forensic mental healthcare in Aotearoa. |
| 29 Jan |
NZNO disgusted by nurse’s killing in the USTōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO has expressed disgust at the shooting and killing of nurse Alex Pretti on a Minneapolis, US street on Saturday morning by federal officers. |
| 27 Jan |
New national group forms to support public healthcare in AotearoaKaitiaki Hauora - Together for Public Health has been formed as a national group bringing together patients, health workers, iwi and Māori health representatives, unions, advocacy organisations, and community groups, with backing from a growing number of organisations across the health sector. |
| 22 Jan |
Pharmac proposes to fund life changing treatments for people with cystic fibrosisPharmac is proposing to fund new treatment options for people living with cystic fibrosis with eligible mutations, including young children, from 1 April 2026. |
| 05 Jan |
Nurses pay tribute to Dame PoutasiThe passing of Dame Karen Poutasi has seen Aotearoa lose one of its foremost health leaders and a woman of high integrity, Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku says. |
