April 2025
April 28, 2025
‘It is hugely annoying to watch MPs pontificating on something about which they have a very superficial understanding.’
Read more... Attacks on cultural safety in health highlight politicians’ ignorance
April 2025
April 17, 2025
Wellington nurse and NZNO delegate Hilary Gardner shares her vision for a well-funded health system in Aotearoa.
Read more... ‘Imagine’ — Wellington nurse shares her vision of a well-funded health system
April 2025
April 16, 2025
A nurse and unionist together make the case for less military and more health spending.
March 2025
March 19, 2025
A young New Zealand nurse explains why she left for Australia — her childhood dream of nursing had rapidly turned to burnout.
March 2025
March 3, 2025
Health-care assistant (HCA) and NZNO delegate Cath Hellyer shares her relentless 14-year battle for correct holiday backpay which led to a $15.2 million payout for 4000 Hawke’s Bay workers in November. But it’s still not over.
Read more... ‘The past 14 years of my life’. Holiday pay battler reflects on her long fight
February 2025
February 20, 2025
A mental health nurse cautions against labelling all drug use as negative, and stigmatising people in the process.
Read more... ‘The way illegal drugs are discussed can cause more harm than the drugs themselves’
January 2025
January 27, 2025
What’s the difference between these three pay processes? An experienced NZNO delegate explains.
Read more... ‘Pay parity or pay equity or equal pay. I am confused! ‘
January 2025
January 23, 2025
Nurse educators need to be recruited from a broader range of expertise, a nurse lecturer argues.
Read more... A multidisciplinary approach to nurse lecturing is needed in New Zealand
January 2025
January 16, 2025
‘If you spent a day with me in ED, you’d never come back.’ In the wake of a nurse strangulation attempt, a senior emergency nurse says staff are exposed to abuse and aggression most days.
Read more... ‘I’m gonna rip your head from your body’ — ED nurse tells of constant aggression
January 2025
December 16, 2024
A dad-of-three is moved to write from his hospital bed in support of nurses and kaiāwhina as they strike this month.
Read more... Auckland patient speaks out in support of nurses and kaiāwhina on strike
December 2024
December 3, 2024
An experienced Christchurch practice nurse warns primary health is in a precarious state.
Read more... Primary health ‘ready to tip like jenga’, says nurse vaccinator
November 2024
November 11, 2024
My final message to you, our nurses, is that patients have the utmost respect for the work that you do, and heartfelt sympathy for the system in which you find yourself in…
Read more... Buller is the canary in the coalmine for the New Zealand health system
November 2024
October 30, 2024
NZNO delegate Ben Basevi was one of the nurses who recently led action to refuse care for a patient at Waitākere Hospital who had asked for white-only staff and made racist and sexual remarks over a six-week period. In this opinion piece, he explores the health and safety issues at the worker/consumer/visitor interface, and promotes the development of a policy and guidelines specifically designed to manage racism in public hospitals.
Read more... Getting the boss to deal with racist patients in our hospitals
November 2024
September 13, 2024
New Zealand’s mental health service lacks the capacity to pick up the emergency call-out work that the police are pulling out of, warns NZNO’s mental health nursing leader.
Read more... Surely the safety of people in the community is ‘core policing work’
September 2024
August 28, 2024
Retired Wellington nurse Jiff Stewart spoke at Wednesday’s picket against staff cuts outside retirement village owners’ $2000-a-head conference. This is her kōrero.
September 2024
August 26, 2024
A Wellington nurse laments the way nurses are being treated lately after putting their lives on the line during the COVID-19 pandemic.
September 2024
August 26, 2024
After writing a concerned letter, NZNO’s emergency nurses met Minister of Health Shane Reti earlier this year, to discuss the realities of working on the frontline. As rallies over unsafe staffing in EDs continue, they share some of their kōrero here.
Read more... Emergency nurses share woes with health minister
September 2024
August 13, 2024
In an urgent call to better support New Zealand-trained nurses, senior Māori nursing lecturer at NorthTec, Pipi Barton (Ngāti Hikairo ki Kāwhia) recalls being an out-of-work nursing graduate in the 1990s.
Read more... Left out in the cold: Is it really about health budget constraints?
August 2024
July 29, 2024
Te Whatu Ora leaders say spending too much on nurses has pushed them into the red. Former chair Rob Campbell says nurses are part of the solution and must be supported with fair pay and safe staffing.
August 2024
July 16, 2024
Long-time gerontology nurse Sally Fleming reckons working in aged care is extremely undervalued.
Read more... ‘Wonderful’ aged-care nursing is undervalued, says long-time nurse
