Financial support called for
A cost of living payment for health workers and financial support for student nurses is desperately needed, industry leaders say, after Health Minister Andrew Little yesterday announced a suite of measures to make it easier for international health workers to move to New Zealand.
The flu, ongoing Omicron hospitalisations and Covidrelated staff illness has put even more pressure on the health system in the past two weeks, a strain that clinicians have described as hitting crisis levels and compromising patient safety.
Yesterday, Little said the Government would ease the immigration process for nurses – including offering $10,000 towards a nursing registration – and cover doctors’ salaries during their sixweek clinical induction.
But he must compete with other affluent nations, like Australia, to attract vital staff in high demand across the world.
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Sarah Dalton said doctors could double their pay across the ditch.
‘‘Once people come here, they do love it for obvious reasons,’’ she said of international doctors.
‘‘But it is very expensive, and our nearest neighbour is slightly less expensive and pays a lot more for senior doctors.’’ A cost of living increase for doctors would ease the pain caused by skyrocketing prices for food and fuel, she said.
‘‘I think everyone understands you can earn a lot more in Australia [across professions], but the gap for doctors is significant.’’
High costs for essential items was also making it much harder for student nurses, College of Nurses executive director Professor Jenny Carryer said.
More should be done to ‘‘keep the nurses we have got’’ and to support student nurses financially, she said. ‘‘Nurses who are studying are doing their bachelor’s on top of clinical placements and often don’t have time for a part-time job.’’
This was exacerbated by the fact student nurses were often doing placements on wards facing unprecedented levels of stress, which made them no longer want to work in the profession.
‘‘A lot of nurses are dispirited,’’ she said.
Nurses have for years been pushing for hospital bosses to staff wards safely. A government report, released in February,
found serious nursing shortages, with more than a quarter of all hospital shifts understaffed.
‘‘There are very few jobs where you run all day making rapid decisions, any one of which could kill someone,’’ she said.
Globally, there is a shortage of 12 million nurses.
Little also announced that the process for international health workers to get their qualifications recognised would be streamlined. The Government will also work with the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners to increase the number of GPs trained each year to 300, as well as doubling the number of nurse practitioners trained each year from 50 to 100.
Little said work was under way to lift nurses’ pay. ‘‘We’ve remained committed across the health workforce . . . to lift pay from the unfair levels they’ve been for a long time,’’ he said in the Beehive yesterday.
He said there were 7000 people sitting on a register, wanting to come and work in New Zealand.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there was a ‘‘a lot of international recruitment’’ going on and New Zealand offered ‘‘simplicity’’ in its immigration processes. ‘‘If you choose to become a nurse in New Zealand, you can become a permanent resident.’’
In a slightly less conventional announcement, Little also outlined a collaboration with the popular TV medical show Shortland Street.
While the Government won’t be funding the show, the soap’s producers will have access to government information to help it build a storyline that promotes nursing as a career.