Nurses have never been this frustrated

Nurses. Where would we be without them? Possibly dead. If you’ve ever been through the health system, you will know that there are a huge number of administrative workers and health professionals of all stripes and stethoscopes working hard to get you back home and healthy again.

In two weeks nurses are voting whether to strike across New Zealand. It’s not the first time this threat has loomed but this is the most serious and vocal the industry has appeared in my memory.

I would not be surprised if this actually goes ahead. They want to teach their employers a lesson. One of the best ways to do this is get the public on board, and of course, if nurses strike, even for just a week, it will be the public that pay during that time.

I can’t pretend to know anything that’s going on behind negotiating doors but I know nurses are fed up and angry. Let’s take it to the personal level. I broke my ankle in September last year, ruining an assortment of previously pristine bones.

It was an ongoing saga that online readers can find, should they choose to relive my pain.

And it’s not over. One of the screws in one of the plates is growing too close to the bone, so I’m going back in to hospital on May 1.

The nurse who looked after me when I was in recovery after the first operation was one of many who treated me with kindness, empathy and expertise.

As it happens, Angeline Yates has become a vocal advocate for why nurses deserve a pay increase of more than the latest meagre offer of the 2 per cent increase. A Facebook post she wrote went viral, much to the consternation of the bosses, one would imagine.

Let’s not fool ourselves in thinking they are all angels. As in every industry, you’ll find ones who are real ogres but what Angeline is desperately trying to convey is that the climate is stressful and being underpaid does not help. An increase which has not kept up with inflation will not encourage new students. Angeline says she loves her job but would probably not encourage her daughter to enter the profession.

She wrote: ‘‘Shit WILL hit the fan. The old saying ... ‘‘You get what you pay for’’ applies. Burnt out staff who have to work full-time to keep afloat financially, staff too stretched to give anything but the bare minimum in care, loss of experience which IS happening as people have had enough.’’

She is not alone in her feeling and in a couple of weeks, 27,000 members of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation will very likely vote to reject the offer. Not only that, but they are so fed up that they probably won’t accept 3 percent. Or 5 per cent. They feel they have been ignored for so long that only a double digit increase will satisfy.

In my years as a columnist, I have written a handful of thank yous to medical staff who have cared for my Grandma when she has been in hospital, I’ve no doubt I’ll write more as Grandma nears the end. I will never forget seeing one of her nurses holding another elderly woman in a gentle cuddle who had no visitors and mental health issues, just to calm her down.

During the last election if anyone asked which party had the best policies for nurses, health and mental health, the overwhelming answer was Labour or Greens. Will Government prove to the nurses their vote was worth it?

Jacinda will soon find out how stretched maternity services are, especially neonatal intensive care units.

Yet nurses, for the most part, still provide service with a smile to vulnerable people who are often scared and confused, trying to take in more information than they are capable of given the circumstances.

One friend who has visited hospital with her elderly mother often says she sees them helping each other, having a laugh, communicating clearly and asking for help where it’s needed.

Another with cancer says Kiwi nurses are better ambassadors for the country than half our diplomatic corps. He says the industry, which is increasingly populated by immigrants, perform hard physical and emotional work.

‘‘They are the buffers between patients and doctors, and certainly some of the younger doctors could learn a lot about bedside manner and actually noticing what is going on for the patient, from their nurses.’’

And I couldn’t agree more. And even though I excel at buttering people up, this opinion piece has absolutely nothing to do with the fact I’ll be needing nurses for my next ankle operation on May 1. Or does it…?