Thursday May 12, 2022
“Nurses: A Voice to Lead invest in nursing and respect rights to secure global health”
Over the last few years, 12 May has been a day of mixed feelings for me. It’s International Nurses Day and that fills me with feelings of both pride and regret.
As Kaiwhakahaere and co leader of The New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) I am deeply proud of the work each of our members does, and especially what they have done on the front line against the pandemic.
Yet I’m also aware that nurses, midwives, health care assistants and kaimahi hauora are doing it tough. They’re facing increasing demands and significant shortages in workforce supply.
Systemic failure has meant moral injury/distress and burnout in every area of health: the DHBs, Aged Care, Primary Care (e.g. general practice) and – especially of concern to me – Māori and iwi providers. I am acutely aware that Māori have relatively very poor health outcomes due to systemic racism and failures to honour te Tiriti in Health. That’s why NZNO is launching its bold new campaign Maranga Mai! on International Nurses Day 2022. ‘Maranga Mai!’ means ‘Rise Up!’ and this campaign is a call for all nursing staff, whatever area they work in, to come together and take united action. We want to win the political and resourcing commitments needed to address the nursing shortage crisis permanently – and across the whole health sector – and we have some great ideas about how to go about achieving that. I am excited to be part of this. It’s about time, and no
doubt you will be hearing more.