Health Minister Andrew Little says strike notices have been lifted. ”In addition to that there is a commitment to conduct a ministerial review of the safe staffing accord and the implementation care capacity demand management that has not been consistently rolled out,” he said. The Ministry of Health and the nurses union would run a recruitment campaign to fill the 1450 nursing vacancies across the country, Little said. “We need to get nurses into those roles.” Nurses union organiser David Wait said the new offer was “significantly different” from the previous offer but nurses will now get to decide whether it was acceptable or not.
Public hospitals and primary healthcare providers in the Auckland region have been overwhelmed by patients with viruses, including an outbreak of RSV (respiratory syncytial virus). The health worker wanted to remain anonymous and said they feared being identified as it could jeopardise their career, but in an open letter said: “It is not uncommon for us to have up to 200 patients in ED at any one time with 60 or more waiting for a bed on the ward but there is simply no capacity to provide this. Everyday we are bed-blocked and everyday the situation becomes more dire. “We have, and always will be extremely busy and under-resourced, however we have previously just ‘carried on’ and muddled our way through ‘the bad days’ in one way or another, but something has changed and it’s terrifying!”
Friday, 16 July 2021, 4:26 pm
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) says
significant progress has been made in negotiations with the
district health boards (DHBs) over the latest multi-employer
collective agreement (MECA), and it will be presenting an
offer to its members next week.
Lead Advocate David
Wait said he was glad negotiations had reached this point
after talks broke down earlier in the week. The DHBs
had shown a willingness to move on a number of issues
important to our members, but did not have an offer ready by
close of business on Wednesday, which was the two-week
deadline for issuing the strike notice.
Business Scoop » Health Minister Welcomes Progress On Nurses Pay scoop.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from scoop.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Business Scoop » NZNO To Present DHB MECA Offer; Withdraws Strike Notice scoop.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from scoop.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.