Struggle to recruit for nursing jobs

More than 200 nursing roles are waiting to be filled across just two of the country’s 20 district health boards, as officials work to keep safe staffing promises made during contract negotiations.

And the New Zealand Nurses’ Organisation (NZNO) picked those figures were likely to be the tip of the iceberg, as patient demand grows.

The Counties-Manukau and Waikato health boards have at least 100 nursing vacancies each, with the Counties-Manukau board in South Auckland seeking approval to hire almost 40 more.

In a report tabled a fortnight ago, Counties-Manukau chief nurse Jenny Parr said 140 fulltime nursing and midwifery roles were being ‘‘actively recruited’’. The report also revealed that, in mid-August, Middlemore Hospital’s emergency department recorded its highest number of attendances in a single week since 2013.

Waikato DHB chief nursing and midwifery officer Sue Hayward said its vacancies were part of ‘‘a planned increase’’.

‘‘We have employed 20 more graduate nurses when compared with last year and are inviting nurses out of practice for up to five years, support to return to the workforce. ‘‘We are, as in the whole country, finding it difficult to fill vacancies in mental health and addictions.’’

In December, health reporting agency Technical Advisory Services claimed there were 1038 fulltime nurse vacancies across all health boards.

Challenges in recruiting aged care nurses has seen those roles placed on Immigration NZ’s immediate skill shortage list.

requested vacancy figures from Auckland, Capital & Coast, Hutt Valley, Canterbury and Southern health boards but each said it needed more time to respond.

NZNO associate professional services manager Hilary Graham-Smith said shortages were a nationwide problem.

‘‘Certainly, we are aware in some areas where there are significant vacancies where this is causing difficulty in terms of adequate staffing of wards and units.’’ Finding enough mental health nurses was ‘‘universally’’ problematic because of a variety of factors, she said.

‘‘Understaffing has a huge impact on nurses’ ability to practice. Then, you’ve got the complexity of the environment, and the need to be properly staffed and resourced to ensure patients are kept safe.’’

According to Capital & Coast documents, there were 41 safe staffing incidents reported by staff members across its Wellington facilities in July.

Rolling out the care capacity demand management system was part of the safe staffing accord agreed with nurses in July.