September 2025 – Page 2 – Kaitiaki Nursing New Zealand

September 2025

He aha ngā hua ki te tapuhi o tēnei wiki whakahirahira, arā, o tō tātou Wiki o te Reo Māori?

By Joel Maxwell

September 15, 2025

Tau atu, tau mai ka haramai tēnei āhuatanga e whakanui ana i tō tatou reo rangatira, ā, kāhore e kore he tino hira pea te kaupapa kia tuku aroha ki taua taonga i tēnei tau pū.

September 2025

Sarita Sharma: The capital’s face of a fighting nurse

By Renee Kiriona

September 12, 2025

There’s one face that shines through at every single rally, picket and march in Wellington that has anything to do with nurses or health. And that face belongs to Sarita Sharma.

September 2025

A wonderful opportunity for advanced stomal therapy education

By Emma Ludlow

September 12, 2025

Stomal therapy nurses may have an opportunity to take an advanced education course in their specialty, that is usually only available via an expensive trip to Australia.

September 2025

Community health, patient safety under increasing threat

By Nicolette Sheridan, Jenny Carryer and Andrew Jull

September 11, 2025

Nursing leaders share deep concern over the effect of the current political environment on nursing.

September 2025

Nurses forced into silence and Māori patients left invisible — NZNO submits on Government’s health Bill

By Joel Maxwell

September 11, 2025

It’s not healthy, and it’s bad for the future — the NZNO has blasted a proposed health law for dismantling Māori gains and stealing nurses’ rights, in a select committee hearing.

Nurses forced into silence and Māori patients left invisible — NZNO submits on Government’s health Bill

September 2025

Bargaining restart gets real: The last-minute dash to negotiation team hui thanks to short-staffing

By Joel Maxwell

September 11, 2025

As NZNO collective bargaining restarts with Te Whatu Ora on Thursday, even planning was hampered by nurse short-staffing.

September 2025

‘It’s a beginning’, say emergency nurses after joining safe staffing kōrero

By Mary Longmore

September 9, 2025

As the shocking reality of hospital understaffing is finally revealed, NZNO’s ED nurses are finally being invited to join Te Whatu Ora’s safe staffing discussions after meeting with the Minister of Health.

September 2025

The marshmallows are back! Hospital staff celebrate after campaign to bring joy back to their hot choccies

By Mary Longmore

September 9, 2025

Marshmallows will shortly be back on the menu at a hospital near you, after workers campaigned to ‘free the marshmallow’.

September 2025

Groundhog Day: NZNO files pay equity claims — again — for hospice and Plunket members

By Joel Maxwell

September 9, 2025

NZNO’s hospice and Plunket members have become the first in New Zealand to refile pay equity claims after the Government took an axe to the process in May.

September 2025

Nurse John spins real-life short-staffing trauma into comedy gold, say Auckland fans

By Auckland nurses

September 8, 2025

A group of North Shore nurses who went along to the TikTok sensation Nurse John’s short-staffing show say it hit the nail on the head.

September 2025

Strike day 2: Nurses vindicated, infuriated and bleeding — literally — for their patients

By Mary Longmore and Renee Kiriona

September 5, 2025

It was an emotional rollercoaster.

September 2025

A Singaporean nurse in New Zealand: is the grass really greener?

By Farhana Sulong

September 4, 2025

Adapting to life in New Zealand has been quite the emotional journey for Singaporean nurse Farhana Sulong, who emigrated here in the middle of the pandemic.

September 2025

Homegrown and hired: Northland backs its own new graduate nurses

By Baxter-Lena Edwards

September 4, 2025

Why did every single nurse who graduated from Northtec this July get a job? One of this group thinks she knows the reason.

September 2025

Scaled-back psychology assistants a ‘backtrack’, say mental health nurses

By Mary Longmore

September 4, 2025

A newly-approved psychology assistant workforce will simply be another burden on overstretched health professionals, warn NZNO mental health nurses.

September 2025

Strike Day 1: Action might be nationwide, but Te Whatu Ora nurses’ motivations are very personal

By Joel Maxwell

September 3, 2025

The strike was nationwide, covering tens of thousands, but the reasons for nursing were simple, personal — and always about the patient.

August 2025

‘All we can do is take the buggers to court’ — teachers, nurses, librarians join forces in legal challenge

By Mary Longmore

August 29, 2025

Wāhine across female-dominated workforces stood together outside the High Court in Wellington today, as their unions filed joint legal action against the Government’s $12.8 billion rollback of pay equity claims.

August 2025

She’s aged 87 and still teaches — Grace Benson and her thousands of diamonds

By Joel Maxwell

August 29, 2025

For more than 40 years Grace Benson has lovingly shaped and polished thousands of her ‘diamonds’ — so many you can find them in theatres, practices and clinics around the country.

August 2025

Māori nurse awards bring out the ‘mana in their mahi’

By Renee Kiriona

August 28, 2025

Māori nurses on a journey to advance their clinical practice or develop innovative ways to help Māori communities access and understand their medicines, were recently recognised at the 2025 Te Pātaka Whaioranga (PHARMAC) Tapuhi Kaitiaki Awards.

August 2025

Speaking up for carers: ‘Caregiver abuse is all too common’

By Kath Woodley

August 28, 2025

Most people are aware of the terrible problem of elder abuse. But much less is known about the insidious issue of elderly dementia patients abusing their carers.

August 2025

Hutt nurses opt to ‘bleed and feed’ in strike next week

By Renee Kiriona

August 28, 2025

Hundreds of Te Whatu Ora nurses in the Hutt Valley are planning to give away their blood and food during their two days of strikes.

Daily doses – uncut news

29 Apr	Heartbreaking tragedies were avoidable - NZNO Analysis by a media outlet, published today, finding health care staff shortages were contributing factors in the deaths of 11 babies is a national and avoidable tragedy, NZNO says.
28 Apr	CTU launches Roving Health and Safety Representatives policy on Workers’ Memorial Day The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi has today launched our Roving Health and Safety Representatives policy at the Workers’ Memorial Day commemoration in Wellington, with further events held across the motu in Manawatū, Christchurch, and Otago.
24 Apr	“The 80s Calling”: New national campaign challenges outdated HIV stigma Associate Health Minister Matt Doocey today launched Health New Zealand’s “The 80s Calling”; a provocative new campaign designed to reduce stigma, normalise conversations about HIV, and support people living with HIV.
23 Apr	Government’s attack on Māori health raised at the UN Concerns over the Coalition Government’s active reversal of policies designed to improve Māori health outcomes were raised at the United Nations in New York this morning.
16 Apr	Tribute to Professor Lester Levy’s service to healthcare Health New Zealand Chief Executive Dr Dale Bramley is paying tribute to Health NZ Board Chair Professor Lester Levy, who finishes in the role at the end of the month.
10 Apr	Chronic health care assistant short staffing harming vulnerable patients Te Whatu Ora’s attempt to cut costs by requiring health care assistants to carry out cohort patient watches is harming vulnerable patients and staff, NZNO says.
9 Apr	New group education clinics speeding up knee and hip surgery care Health New Zealand is rolling out a new group education approach for people waiting for hip and knee surgery in north and west Auckland, resulting in more patients being seen sooner.
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.