By Mary Longmore
May 24, 2023
A hard-won one-hour strike by 24 Gisborne Hospital ward 5 nurses and health-care assistants (HCAs) this afternoon drew “huge” support, says an emotional nurse who led the fight all the way to the courtoom.
Read more... Hundreds support striking Gisborne nurses after court win
By Mary Longmore
May 24, 2023
Gisborne Hospital ward 5 nurses and health-care assistants are jubilant over winning the right to strike for safer conditions and say it opens the door for other nurses struggling in unsafe conditions to take action.
Read more... ‘This is for every other nurse in New Zealand’ — Gisborne ward 5 nurses celebrate right to strike over safety fears
By Mary Longmore
May 21, 2023
Gisborne Hospital nurses say they’re not surprised by Te Whatu Ora’s move to try and block their strike with legal action.
Read more... ‘They’re stabbing us in the back’ — Gisborne Hospital moves to block ward 5 nurses’ strike
By Mary Longmore
May 16, 2023
Nursing staff at Gisborne Hospital’s ward 5 feel they have no choice but to take strike action this month, after worsening conditions have left them and patients increasingly unsafe.
Read more... ‘We’ve been rolling over too long, we’re not going to do it anymore’ — Gisborne nurses to strike
By Cate Macintosh
February 17, 2023
Coromandel nurses who live on the east coast of the peninsula face an uncertain working future as Cyclone Gabrielle has wreaked havoc on the roads they travel to Thames Hospital.
Read more... Thames Hospital staffing hit by cyclone road closures
By Cate Macintosh
January 24, 2023
Thames Hospital ED normally has three day shifts for doctors, but recently this dropped to just one – a situation which left patients and staff vulnerable to serious adverse events, NZNO members say.*
Read more... Just one doctor at Thames Hospital – ‘a huge risk’
By Cate Macintosh
November 1, 2022
Exhausted and demoralised Te Whatu Ora nurses took action to highlight extreme staffing shortages and a lack of negotiation for extra-shift payments over one week early last month. An NZNO survey about the action showed there were mixed feelings about the boycott, but most took part, and would support doing it again.
Read more... Extra-shift boycott effective, but stressful: survey
By Mary Longmore
September 30, 2022
Tired of waiting for official unsafe staffing warning signs, Dunedin critical care nurse Debbie Robinson created her own very public display of just how dire short-staffing was in the hospital.
Read more... Dunedin nurse takes short-staffing into her own hands with home-made poster
By Cate Macintosh
September 22, 2022
A battle is looming over incentive payments for additional shifts to fill desperately under-staffed hospital wards. NZNO members are vowing to stop doing them completely for the week of October 3-9 in a national protest while Te Whatu Ora says there won’t be any need for them after September 30 anyway.
Read more... Battle looms over incentive payments
By Ben Basevi
August 10, 2022
NZNO members went on strike last year and won — alongside pay increases — an agreement that employers return to safe staffing levels.
Read more... What you can do about unsafe staffing on your ward