Addressing nurse shortage

Wellington: Resthomes are confident a Government immigration decision this week will help address chronic nursing shortages in aged care.

Immigration Minister Iain LeesGalloway has put agedcare nurses back on the longterm skills shortage list.

Aged Care Association chief executive Simon Wallace said the decision of the previous government to remove them from the list exacerbated staff shortages, removed pathways to residency and left foreign nurses uncertain about their futures in New Zealand.

‘‘That [new decision] does give our resthome operators the ability to recruit nurses from overseas and retain their current overseas nurses without having to go through a rigorous labour market test to prove that they can’t find a Kiwi,’’ he said.