Understaffing fuels health fears

Nursing shifts are dramatically understaffed and vacancies have nearly doubled in the past six months at the Capital & Coast District Health Board (CCDHB).

Last month, 47 per cent of shifts were below target and there were 15 midwife vacancies and 144 registered nurse vacancies.

Patient safety was at risk as tired nurses worked extra hours without breaks, warned the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO).

A sick person entering hospital deserved more, said NZNO professional nursing adviser Suzanne Rolls.

CCDHB says the 47 per cent figure relates only to registered nurses, and understaffing can range from a few minutes or up to the entire shift.

The board’s internal nursing and midwifery bureau was ‘‘constantly advertising’’ and recruiting to assist with vacancies and illness, the DHB’s quality improvement and patient safety executive director Sandy Blake said.

From next year, students enrolled in Victoria University’s four-year midwifery programme will be able to be employed as maternity support workers, said Blake. Nursing students can be employed as health care assistants.

Blake said there was a shortage nationally and internationally of midwives.

But Rolls said that the newly elected CCDHB board should identify the cause of vacancies and seek action.

‘‘We see a dramatic increase in the levels of vacancies for nurses and senior nurses since the last [staffing] report.’’

Nurses were going home late from work, fatigued, getting sick

Suzanne Rolls

NZNO professional nursing adviser

or injured, working extended hours, extra shifts and overtime and were not having breaks, Rolls said.

‘‘[They need to] quickly put in place critical interventions to eliminate these vacancies by employing nurses to ensure staff and patient safety,’’ Rolls said.

An employee, who asked for her name not to be used, said in 2018, nurses participated in a nationwide strike for better pay, better working conditions and to address chronic understaffing.

‘‘The whole point of what we were doing on strike was to bring attention to this but whatever they’re doing is not working.’’

The Government committed to funding an extra 500 nurses as part of employment negotiations – of those CCDHB received 34 fulltime nurses and midwives.

The staffing numbers came from the latest Care Capacity Demand Management (CCDM) report, released bimonthly.

‘‘[They need to] quickly put in place critical interventions.’’