September 2024 – Kaitiaki Nursing New Zealand

September 2024

Getting New Zealand-trained nursing graduates in work ‘a very high priority’ — Minister of Health

By Mary Longmore

September 17, 2024

Minister of Health Shane Reti says getting New Zealand-trained nursing graduates in work is a “very high priority” for him, as Te Whatu Ora considers expanding their options.

September 2024

Māori app made for, and by, nurses and doctors

By Renee Kiriona

September 16, 2024

It is Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori and there is a special app for health professionals on a journey to raise their cultural knowledge.

September 2024

Where’s the money? Nurses challenge Government over its health targets plan

By Mary Longmore

September 13, 2024

Exhausted emergency, perioperative, primary health and cancer nurses may be left wondering how they are meant to treat more patients quicker, without any more funding.

September 2024

Surely the safety of people in the community is ‘core policing work’

By Helen Garrick

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.

September 2024

Rotorua ED nurses ‘devastated’ over woman’s death after three-hour wait

By Renee Kiriona and Mary Longmore

September 12, 2024

Emergency nurses warn more waiting room deaths are ‘inevitable’ in the current squeezed health environment.

September 2024

It’s cool to kōrero — Sept 2024

By Kathy Stodart

September 12, 2024

He whero tāku waka hou. — My car is red.

September 2024

New nurse practitioner chair wants to see NP numbers grow ‘like ivy’

By Mary Longmore

September 10, 2024

New chair of Nurse Practitioners NZ Chelsea Wilmott predicts NP numbers will soon double — but warns nurses can be their own worst enemy.

September 2024

Call to reverse heated tobacco products experiment

By Karen Howarth

September 4, 2024

NZNO – Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa is horrified by statements from Finance Minister Nicola Willis that the Government is experimenting with using heated tobacco products as an alternative to cigarettes to see if they will help people to stop smoking.

August 2024

NZNO pays tribute to the Māori King

By Renee Kiriona

August 30, 2024

NZNO – Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa has joined with the nation to mourn the passing of Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII.

September 2024

Kiwi nurses help transform lives through Mercy Ships’ surgical care

By Fiona Hunt-Baker

August 30, 2024

Kiwi nurses who volunteer aboard Mercy Ships’ floating hospitals at African ports, come back home with their passion for nursing invigorated.

September 2024

‘I want to be safe’ — a former nurse and resident begs retirement villages to stop cutting staff

By Jiff Stewart

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

Residents and families picket retirement village owners’ conference

By Mary Longmore

August 28, 2024

Retirees, families and supporters turn out to picket $2000-a-head retirement village conference as aged care staff and care hours are being cut.

September 2024

New Southern Cross scholarships will fund 17 AUT nursing students on clinical placements

By Mary Longmore

August 28, 2024

Seventeen new scholarships are being launched to support “passionate” and under-represented Auckland University of Technology (AUT) nursing students on clinical placements over the next three years.

September 2024

Nurses — have we gone from hero to zero?

By Anita Cook

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

Emergency nurses share woes with health minister

By Lauren Miller

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.

September 2024

Ngāti Raukawa nurse honoured with Te Akenehi Hei Award

By Renee Kiriona

August 23, 2024

Whether it’s in Middlemore Hospital’s emergency department or in Auckland’s urban Māori community, Dhyanne Hohepa is a leader.

September 2024

Bringing te ao Māori into private surgical care

By Kathy Stodart

August 22, 2024

A Māori nursing leader at Southern Cross Healthcare is bringing te ao Māori into the world of private surgical care, and is using his own research to back up this work.

September 2024

Wellington aged-care residents and staff win ‘faint concession’ after picket, petition

By Mary Longmore

August 13, 2024

Wellington aged-care facility Village at the Park has shaved 42 hours off proposed nursing and caregiving cutbacks, after residents rallied behind staff with a picket and petition.

August 2024

Green light to recruit 59 nurse graduates at Te Whatu Ora Waikato, in wake of job offer glitch

By Mary Longmore

August 13, 2024

News that Te Whatu Ora Waikato is recruiting 59 nursing graduates into supported-entry roles at Waikato Hospital and other areas has made some of New Zealand’s newest nurses “so happy”.

September 2024

Left out in the cold: Is it really about health budget constraints?

By Pipi Barton

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.

17 Sept	Dr Le Heron takes title of 2024 Alzheimers NZ Fellow Distinguished neurologist and cognitive neuroscientist, Dr Campbell Le Heron, has been made the 2024 Alzheimers NZ Fellow for his work researching and managing cognitive disorders.
11 Sept	Aged care will be worse off if redesign rushed New Zealanders needing aged care support and the people who care for them will be worse off if the Government pushes through a flawed and rushed redesign of dementia and aged care.
11 Sept	Govt takes action on mpox response, widens access to vaccine The Government is taking immediate action on a number of steps around New Zealand’s response to mpox, including improving access to vaccine availability so people who need it can do so more easily, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti and Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today.
10 Sept	ICN launches new position statement and discussion paper setting out a revolution in the delivery of Primary Health Care The International Council of Nurses (ICN) is launching its new position statement and a discussion paper on Primary Health Care (PHC) at its Nurse Practitioner/Advanced Practice Nursing Network (NP/APN Network) Conference in Aberdeen, Scotland.
9 Sept	First cancer medicine decision following Pharmac funding boost Pharmac has decided to widen access to two medicines for several types of cancer. Pembrolizumab (branded as Keytruda) will be funded from 1 October 2024 for eligible people with advanced triple-negative breast cancer, head and neck cancer, colorectal cancer, bladder cancer, and Hodgkin lymphoma. Nivolumab (branded as Opdivo) will be funded from 1 November for eligible people with kidney cancer.
6 Sept	Health agencies working with Police on rebalancing roles for mental health responses Health New Zealand \| Te Whatu Ora and the Ministry of Health - Manatū Hauora are working with Police to change some of the ways agencies respond to mental health. The change will see an increased health-led response, supporting Police to focus on core Policing.
4 Sept	Nurses’ bargaining starts with action for safe staffing Nurses are kicking off their collective bargaining with Te Whatu Ora by taking action for safe staffing on Friday, New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) says.
29 Aug	Te Whatu Ora redundancy proposal in breach of collective agreements Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora’s call for employees to end their employment via voluntary redundancy is in breach of the established consultation processes, New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) says.
28 Aug	ICN urges nurses to be vigilant after WHO declares mpox an international public health emergency The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has called for extra vigilance in the wake of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) declaration that the upsurge in mpox 2024 outbreaks in the African region constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
27 Aug	Retirees to rally for safe Aged Residential Care Wellington retirees will rally tomorrow to protest staffing cuts at Aged Residential Care facilities. They want a fair go for staff and residents.
26 Aug	Mental health declines, relationships and jobs at risk without HRT, survey results show A nationwide survey that canvassed over 2000 hormone replacement therapy (HRT) users has proven how critical hormones are to general health, productivity, and mental wellness.
23 Aug	Govt funding boosts immunisation in high needs communities Minister of Health Dr Shane Reti has welcomed preliminary data on a major immunisation initiative, saying it reinforces a commitment to get resources and funding out of a Wellington-based bureaucratic tangle and directly to frontline providers.
22 Aug	Dargaville nurses to strike over doctor shortage Staff at Dargaville Hospital are sick and tired of working in fear because of the unavailability of an on-site doctor. Therefore, members of New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) will strike for one hour to voice their frustrations on 29 August.
22 Aug	New health report makes recommendations to support rural primary healthcare A new report about rural primary care identifies inequities in service provision, major pressures on funding and workforce, unsustainably high levels of clinical risk, and barriers for patients to access care when and where they need it.
19 Aug	ICN contributes to Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has submitted a comprehensive evidence-based report highlighting gravely concerning nurse recruitment trends, as part of the latest reporting round on implementation of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel.
16 Aug	Health NZ corrects the record: Whangārei Hospital remains open Whangārei Hospital Emergency Department continues to accept patients and new admissions and any claims otherwise are false and inaccurate.
13 Aug	Healing Humanity Initiative Launches with First Grant to 3D Hands The Healing Humanity Initiative, in collaboration with the Hunt Family Foundation, is thrilled to launch and announce its first grant of $20,000 to Free 3D Hands.
8 Aug	Cutting frontline services will result in worsening mental health outcomes Family violence is likely to increase, more young people will switch off at school and there will be a worsening of mental health outcomes thanks to the Government’s latest cost-cutting exercise.
6 Aug	Update on cancer drug Keytruda access Health New Zealand is moving forward implementation planning to ensure a small group of cancer patients can take advantage of free early access to the drug Keytruda shortly ahead of Pharmac starting to fund the medication.
6 Aug	Govt delivers on overdue Christchurch ED unit Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says delivery of a long overdue Emergency Observation Unit for Christchurch Hospital will reduce admissions, free up valuable resources across the hospital and help deliver on shorter stays in Emergency Departments.