Panel to tackle nursing stalemate

In a bid to avoid a health strike in the middle of flu season, an independent panel will be tasked with breaking down the roadblock in negotiations between the nurses union and district health boards (DHBs).

While the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) said its members wanted to avoid walking off the job, details will be decided next week for a possible strike, which would likely go ahead in late June or early July.

Hospitals will be desperate to avoid a strike as they brace for a busy winter, set to be amplified by a deadly strain of flu that has already swept the northern hemisphere and Australia.

The panel’s job will be to come up with a non-binding recommendation, which both parties can take to their members.

It’s understood the panel will aim to have its final recommendation ready by the end of May.

The panel, suggested by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern last month, will be made up of three people – an independent chairperson, and a representative for the DHBs and NZNO.

These panel members have yet to be announced.

Health Minister David Clark said it was important to find a solution.

‘‘Everyone wants to support nurses, nobody actually wants to go on strike. I think we need to find a way through this and the prime minister has shown some amazing leadership on it.’’

NZNO industrial services manager Cee Payne said the panel would seek to address the impasse in the DHB nurses and midwives’ multi-employer collective agreement (Meca) bargaining.

Nurses had suffered from ‘‘severe underfunding of the health system’’, and struggled under an increase in healthcare needs, an ageing population and workforce, and rising costs in the delivery of healthcare, she said.

DHB spokesman Dr Ashley Bloomfield was hopeful the panel would find a solution. ‘‘DHBs support the independent panel as a way to resolve the current negotiations and avoid disrupting health services, as well as finding a mechanism to address the current impasse.’’

The panel will let both parties respond to a draft recommendation before making a final, nonbinding recommendation.

DHBs will then make an updated offer to the NZNO. That offer will be taken to the union’s 27,000 members, which include lead maternity carer (LMC) midwives.

If its members reject the offer and vote to strike, then notice must be given to hospitals around the country.

Legally, the minimum notice period is 14 days but it’s understood the NZNO would want to give more warning to allow for hospitals to reschedule elective surgeries and non-urgent clinics.

Hundreds of nurses are expected to turn up for rallies in Wellington, Dunedin and Christchurch today, aiming to send a message to DHBs and the Government that greater investment is needed in nursing.

Nurses will gather in Hagley Park North in Christchurch from 11.30am to 1pm, and in front of Wellington and Dunedin public hospitals from 2pm to 4pm.

A final rally for health will take place in Wairarapa on Saturday, from 9am at the Masterton market.

"Everyone wants to support nurses, nobody actually wants to go on strike."

Health Minister David Clark