Rally against unsafe understaffing
Less than 48 hours after junior doctors braved the freezing southerly to picket in front of Wellington Regional Hospital over failed pay negotiations, nurses took the baton yesterday, demanding safer staffing levels. Buses, trucks and private car drivers tooted their horns as about 60 nurses waved flags and placards reading “we’re standing up for ratio justice”.
It comes as New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa) says official information figures reveal an “alarming nurse staffing crisis” in the nation’s hospitals. More than half of the country’s children’s wards were understaffed at least 20% of the time, the figures showed.
Nickie Moore has been a registered nurse since 1987 and works at the neonatal unit at Wellington Regional Hospital. A shift that she was in charge of last year had seven nurses off sick. Work in the neonatal unit was demanding, she said. On top of being on their feet for 12 hours monitoring incubators, babies’ conditions and administering medicines, neonatal nurses had to liaise with parents, doctors, physios and dietitians.
“It is very stressful knowing that you can’t do your best,” she said. “You’re just running on the seat of your pants because Mother Nature is not always kind, it doesn’t tell us how many babies is going to be delivered that day.
“We want to see healthy babies home with families and they have a good start to the rest of their lives.”
NZNO president/kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku said there should be legislation mandating safe nurse to patient ratios.
In Wellington, there were “some significant issues” within the mental health wards that could be a health and safety issue.
“That is is a chronic staffing issue,” she said. “We can only alleviate this if we proactively ... start to create those mandates.”