A group of Gisborne nurses has delivered a letter signed by more than 200 nurses, doctors and kaiāwhina to their local MP, National’s Dana Kirkpatrick, calling for safer staffing in hospitals.
“In Tairāwhiti, we are short of doctors, nurses, health-care assistants and security guards, and the recruitment freeze and cuts to the health budget makes it near-impossible to fill these gaps,” they wrote.
Unable to be part of this week’s rolling strikes due to unsafe weather — gale-force wind and torrential rain — the nurses and kaiāwhina instead focused on sharing their stories of a “broken health-care system” with their local MP.
“We’ve picketed in the rain before, but this was next level!” said NZNO delegate Christine Warrander.
‘We already know they’re trying to cut as much fat as they can and don’t really care what’s happening on the ward.’
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Meanwhile, Gisborne Hospital wards were still running on 2022 staffing allocations — despite new calculations showed more nurses were needed.
“We’re really short-staffed on our ward,” said Warrander, who last year led a health and safety strike at Gisborne Hospital despite legal action by Te Whatu Ora.
One 24-bed ward was forced to cope with just five full-time-equivalent (FTE) nurses, when 6.5 were needed to safely staff daytime shifts.
The figures had been calculated in October by safe staffing tool CCDM (care capacity demand management) which matches patient need to staff skill and numbers.
But budget for its recommended safe staffing levels had not been approved, said Warrander, who feared CCDM would be dumped altogether by Te Whatu Ora.
‘We were lucky and got her through that . . . but there are unsafe situations like that.’
“Now they’re talking about doing away with CCDM completely which is going to leave us in a really dangerous place as they can just say whatever staffing they want and we’ll have nothing to back us up,” she told Kaitiaki. “We already know they’re trying to cut as much fat as they can and don’t really care what’s happening on the ward.”
Meanwhile, staff were run ragged, the ward was over-capacity and patient safety was compromised.
“Last week we had a patient cleared for discharge but waiting for results, so they were put in the lounge room, where there’s no oxygen, no emergency bell. She came out of there sweaty, grey and not very well at all,” Warrander said. “We were lucky and got her through that . . . but there are unsafe situations like that.”
Kirkpatrick had been invited to come and talk to them about their experiences early in the new year.
‘It’s going to leave us in a really precarious situation. Why can we not give our locals the jobs they’re wanting?’
“We just want some acknowledgement and action to be taken,” Warrander said.
“We’ve had a lot of internationally-qualified nurses who have come and filled the gaps — they’re going to be leaving, so we’re going to be back to the same situation,” Warrander said.
“And all our new grads have gone elsewhere because they can’t get jobs here. It’s going to leave us in a really precarious situation. Why can we not give our locals the jobs they’re wanting?”
The letter notes that in 2023, one in four New Zealand hospital shifts on average were understaffed — yet there was a recruitment freeze in place at Te Whatu Ora, the letter said referring to figures released to NZNO under the Official Information Act this year.
‘Health NZ is currently in negotiations with the NZ Nurses Organisation. The primary dialogue on safe staffing sits with them and discussion needs to be led by the parties involved.’
“We know this is a political decision and we need this Government to commit to safe staffing in our hospitals,” staff wrote.
Kirkpatrick told Kaitiaki she was happy to meet with the nurses and kaiāwhina, but could not discuss pay and conditions due to 2024/25 bargaining currently underway.
“As always, I am very aware of the skill and commitment of our Gisborne nurses in supporting the health system. . . Health NZ is currently in negotiations with the NZ Nurses Organisation. The primary dialogue on safe staffing sits with them and discussion needs to be led by the parties involved.”