NZNO – Page 4 – Kaitiaki Nursing New Zealand

July 2025

Nursing students ready to walk: “Hire us or we will leave”

By Kaitiaki coeditors

July 9, 2025

Concerning interim findings of the NZNO 2025 Student Survey has found most students will go overseas if they can’t get jobs in New Zealand.

July 2025

Te Whatu Ora offer further devalues Māori

By Co-Editors, Kaitiaki

July 9, 2025

Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora’s removal of both clauses involving Māori from their offer in collective bargaining shows not only disrespect but a spurning of their legal obligations, NZNO kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku says.

July 2025

Te Whatu Ora refuses to address patient safety concerns

By Co-Editors, Kaitiaki

July 4, 2025

Te Whatu Ora is refusing to address calls to prioritise patient safety by adequately resourcing safe staffing levels, NZNO says.

July 2025

Care worker: ‘They stole my dream to build on my whenua’

By Renee Kiriona

July 3, 2025

Tiaho Whakamarurangi had dreams of returning to her ancestral Māori land on the banks of the Waikato River.

May 2025

Nursing sisters overcome the odds

By Renee Kiriona

June 4, 2025

The Witton sisters have weathered a pandemic, cyclone, poverty, two jobs each and multiple other challenges during their three-year journey to becoming qualified nurses.

May 2025

BUDGET 2025: Funding primary care nurses the answer to the health crisis

By Co-Editors, Kaitiaki

May 21, 2025

To fix chronic staff shortages stopping New Zealanders seeing their GPs when they’re sick, the coalition Government must use Budget 2025 to keep nurses in the sector by paying them the same as hospital nurses, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) says.

May 2025

Dhyanne Hohepa: ‘A light in the dark for Māori nurses’

By Renee Kiriona

May 6, 2025

Dhyanne Hohepa is a leader among Māori nurses driven by aroha and passionate about clinical excellence.

April 2025

Māori women and girl survivors of sexual violence face double trauma

By Emma Chevalier Trager-Lewis (UN Interviews)

April 23, 2025

Two Māori nursing leaders are at the United Nations highlighting the plight facing Māori health. In this interview with a UN reporter, they highlight the issue of violence, including sexual violence, toward Māori women who are three times more likely to be abused than non-Maori women.

April 2025

Proposed constitutional shake-up would see ‘more egalitarian’ and te Tiriti-led NZNO

By Mary Longmore

April 11, 2025

All members will in May have the chance to vote on a proposed new NZNO — Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa constitution which would change the way the organisation is structured and members represented.

April 2025

Nurses’ union backs call to scrap anti-Treaty bill

By Renee Kiriona

April 4, 2025

Parliament’s Justice Committee has released its report into the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill and has recommended it does not proceed.

March 2025

Māori nursing leaders fight attack on Māori health – SOS to United Nations underway

By Renee Kiriona

March 28, 2025

In the last two remaining NZNO leadership profiles, Kaitiaki talks to Te Rūnanga o Aotearoa NZNO kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku and tumu whakarae Tracy Black. They share the mahi done so far and their focus for the rest of the year.

March 2025

Primary health-care nurses take offer but pay parity still on their radar

By Renee Kiriona

March 25, 2025

Primary health-care nurses are one step closer to getting the same pay as their fellow nurses working in hospitals or at Te Whatu Ora.

March 2025

Napier stands with Buller – kaumātua recall last closure

By Renee Kiriona

March 21, 2025

Communities in small towns and cities, where vital health services are being threatened, are getting behind the Buller Declaration to demand action from the Government.

March 2025

‘Scary time’ for workers trying to improve Māori health

By Renee Kiriona

March 14, 2025

“It is a very scary time right now for nurses, whānau ora navigators and other kaimahi working to keep Māori communities alive longer,” says Tracey Morgan, chair of NZNO’s College of Primary Health Care Nurses.

February 2025

Another aged-care company plans major restructures

By Renee Kiriona

February 20, 2025

Unions have been notified that Bupa, one of the biggest aged care companies in New Zealand, will be restructuring 17 of its sites all at once.

February 2025

Oceania Healthcare: Company books in good shape, but workers face more struggles

By Renee Kiriona

February 14, 2025

New Zealand’s largest rest-home owner Oceania Healthcare boasts in its latest financial report upward arrows on all key economic outputs from total comprehensive income to operating cashflow to assets. Every output has a good story for its board of directors and shareholders. But…

February 2025

Grandfather excited at Whitireia growing the next wave of ‘warrior nurses’

By Renee Kiriona

February 13, 2025

Like many other grandparents and parents, Bob Rolleston travelled hundreds of kilometres across the country early this morning to give his mokopuna granddaughter to Whitireia’s bachelor of nursing Māori. He has worked in what he calls the “broken health system” but today he got more hope after seeing the huge interest by his moko and many other Māori in becoming “warrior nurses.”

January 2025

Poor pay forcing nurses to hīkoi from one crisis to another

By Renee Kiriona

January 30, 2025

Nurses are being forced to walk from their jobs in the community, where they are desperately needed, to other spaces where there is a health crisis or even further, to foreign lands.

January 2025

‘It plays with lives, especially Māori lives’ – NZNO

By Renee Kiriona

January 28, 2025

The Treaty of Waitangi and its principles are the solution to fixing the broken foundation of the country’s health system, Parliament’s Justice Select Committee has heard.

January 2025

Treaty Principles Bill will further harm Māori health

By Renee Kiriona

January 14, 2025

A nursing leader is concerned Māori will not get the chance to live longer and the same as non-Māori in New Zealand, if the coalition Government continues to attack the Treaty of Waitangi.

Daily doses – uncut news

30 Mar	Te Whatu Ora must come clean over new uniforms Te Whatu Ora must explain why its rolling out new uniforms for nurses and health care assistants nationwide at a time when patients are struggling to get the care they need because of short-staffing and under-resourcing, NZNO says.
25 Mar	National Diabetes Roadmap launched to improve care, prevention, and quality of life Health 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 evidence Tōpūtanga 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 together The 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 confirms Making 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 health The 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 need The 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 Zealanders A 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 dialysis The 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 targets The 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 agreement Health 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 services Whakatāne 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 distress Youth 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 scholarships A 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 support Seven 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 cancer People 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 plan Te 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 finds A 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 lives ICN 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 crisis Nursing 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 families Midwives 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 Clinic Health 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 US Tōpūtanga 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 Aotearoa Kaitiaki 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 fibrosis Pharmac 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 Poutasi The 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.
12 Dec	Holidays Act remediation payments update As of 12 December 2025, more than 83,000 current employees (representing nearly 93% of the current workforce) have been paid over $657m holidays act remediation payments for their current role.
8 Dec	Expanding access to everyday medicines Registered nurse prescribers can now prescribe nearly double the number of medicines, significantly expanding access to timely, local care for New Zealanders, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.
1 Dec	Govt breaking promise to local communities Labour’s new Family Doctor Loan Scheme will support doctors and nurse practitioners with low-interest loans to set up new practices or buy into existing ones.