Ross Giblin/Stuff
The Ministry of Health’s briefing to Andrew Little as the incoming minister was released on Tuesday and made for stark reading and highlighted the fact the country’s health system was overstretched, underfunded and inequitable.
Health Minister Andrew Little says ongoing pressures on the country’s hospital emergency departments and persistent problems with access to primary health care highlight the need for major reform of the health system. His comments come after the College of Emergency Nurses NZ said that staffing shortages, overcrowding and poor access to primary care were to blame for this week s announcement that Middlemore Hospital s emergency department had reached near capacity levels.
Stephen Forbes/Stuff
Counties Manukau Health announced this week that Middlemore Hospital s emergency department had reached near capacity levels due to patients seeking treatment for non-urgent conditions.
Staff shortages, overcrowding and poor access to GPs is to blame for a plea by Middlemore Hospital for non-urgent patients to avoid its emergency department, a nurses college says. And while the pressure-cooker situation at the south Auckland hospital is a major concern, the College of Emergency Nurses NZ chair Sandy Richardson said it’s part of a bigger, nationwide problem. The group is part of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) union.
Staff shortages, overcrowding and poor access to GPs are being blamed for a plea by Middlemore Hospital for non-urgent patients to avoid its emergency department, a nurses college says.
Middlemore Hospital says its emergency department is only for people with life-threatening emergencies.
Photo: LDR
While the pressure-cooker situation at the South Auckland hospital is a major concern, the College of Emergency Nurses NZ chair Sandy Richardson said it s part of a bigger, nationwide problem. The group is part of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) union.
In a statement released on Monday the clinical director of Middlemore Hospital s emergency department (ED), Dr Vanessa Thornton, asked for the Counties Manukau community s assistance as the hospital s department was under pressure.
GenPro calls foul on Government s funding proposal for primary health care nurses which it says will increase health inequities and fragmentation of an essential workforce nzdoctor.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nzdoctor.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Tuesday, 15 December 2020, 8:34 am
The General Practice Owners Association of Aotearoa New
Zealand (GenPro), the national representative body for
contracted providers running general practice and urgent
care centres across New Zealand, has today called foul on
the Government’s proposals intended to solve on-going
industrial action being taken by the country’s primary
health care nurses in their pursuit of pay-parity with their
DHB employed colleagues.
GenPro’s chair,
Dr Tim Malloy, said, “The solution being proposed does not
offer pay-parity, does not offer anything to hundreds of
nurses who are not members of the New Zealand Nurses
Organisation or whose employers are not part of the MECA