Palmerston North nurses to join protests for better pay

Palmerston North nurses are taking their calls for a pay rise and safer staffing levels into The Square on Saturday morning.

Midcentral District Health Board hospital nurses will be waving their purple banners opposite the entrance to The Plaza as part of a series of rallies around New Zealand.

New Zealand Nurses’ Organisation organiser Donna Ryan said nurses wanted to get their message to the public about how pay levels and under-staffing were undermining the safety and quality of patient care.

Nurses have rejected 2 per cent pay rise offers and had served notice of their intention to strike during winter.

They would be continuing to make preparations for possible industrial action alongside the work of a Government-instigated independent panel set up to resolve the dispute.

Former Parliament New Zealand law commissioner Margaret Wilson has been named to chair the panel, with former Whanganui District Health Board chief executive Julie Patterson and former chief executive of the nurses’ organisation Geoff Annals.

Ryan said the issues around New Zealand were similar.

Nurses’ pay levels had steadily eroded since a pay jolt in 2006, and highly qualified nurses in demanding roles did not feel valued.

They were also campaigning for safe staffing levels to alleviate the stress and pressure nurses were working under. ‘‘We need to make sure base rosters are covered, with allowance for nurses to be able to take their annual leave and study leave.’’

Palmerston North had been spared some of the worst examples of poor, physical working conditions, such as the discovery of mouldy buildings at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland.

But the district health board was still struggling to get its plans for a new acute services block off the ground, and staff were managing patients in facilities that were ‘‘not perfect’’.

‘‘There are places with not enough offices, where patient lounges are taken over, and we know the mental health wards are not ideal.’’