Aged care nursing in ‘crisis’ over pay

A ‘‘desperate’’ shortage of aged care nurses is putting older people and those who care for them in a vulnerable position, an industry body says.

Nurses are leaving aged care homes for the public sector for better pay and conditions, creating a record-high number of vacancies. New Zealand Aged Care Association (NZACA) chief executive Simon Wallace said urgent government action was needed to address the ‘‘spiralling’’ shortage. In the meantime, nurses were working doubleshifts, hospital wings were closing and some recently retired nurses were being pulled back to work, he said.

The New Zealand Nurses’ Organisation and district health boards recently reached a new collective agreement which saw pay increases for nurses of at least 9 per cent.

What was then a ‘‘trickle’’ of nurses leaving aged care for DHBs has turned into a ‘‘torrent’’, Wallace said.

Vacancies hit a record high of 10 per cent in August, with 500 of nearly 5000 registered nursing positions empty, NZACA said.

It was ‘‘not sustainable’’ and only getting worse, Wallace said.

‘‘Every day members are ringing and emailing me saying they’ve lost another nurse to a DHB because of the pay gap.’’

The vast majority were not able to pay their nurses more than they were funded for, and could not meet the rates nurses in public hospitals now received, he said. Most rest homes could only pay their nurses what they received in the annual aged residential care (ARC) contract with DHBs, which from July 1 this year was a 2 per cent increase.

Most aged residential care providers were not-for-profits, welfare, religious, trust and family-run organisations who could not pay more than what they were funded for by the Government, he said.

Wallace said NZACA was in discussions with the DHBs and Ministry of Health to find a solution ‘‘but this is a lengthy process and the crisis is here, now’’.

The Government has responded to teacher shortages by committing to recruit up to 900 teachers from overseas.

‘‘Why aren’t we seeing [them] respond in the same way and bring in hundreds of registered nurses from overseas to ease the desperate shortages in our aged residential care facilities?’’ Wallace said. ‘‘This is a government that stands on empathy and compassion; when is it going to show some for our vulnerable older people and the providers that care for them?’’

Switzer Residential Care general manager and registered nurse Jackie Simkins said pay parity with DHB nurses ‘‘should be a minimum’’.

The Kaitaia rest home, hospital and secure dementia unit has 108 staff including health care assistants, kitchen and laundry workers, and 20 registered nurses.

Five nurses have just given notice – two are retiring, three are moving on.

It would be a ‘‘huge hit’’ for the 92-bed facility, Simkins said.

‘‘It’s lovely working in aged care but it’s tough.

‘‘We can’t blame [nurses] for wanting to leave and make good for their families.’’

The charitable trust is the only aged-care facility in Kaitaia and the Far North.

Five minutes down the road is Kaitaia Hospital, their competition for nurses.

NZACA is lobbying the Government and Immigration NZ to return registered nurses (aged care) to the long-term shortage skills list to ease the nursing shortage in the short-term.

‘‘Every day members are ... saying they’ve lost another nurse ... because of the pay gap.’’

NZ Aged Care Association chief executive Simon Wallace