MIQ nurse deficit hurts treatment

Returnees are going without regular health checks because of chronic nurse shortages in managed isolation and quarantine, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation says.

Nurses’ union organiser Sharleen Rapoto said nurses often have to check 100 returnees, in a 12-hour shift, leaving about eight minutes per patient, many of whom have chronic physical or mental health issues.

Understaffing also has seen many pulling double shifts and missing meal breaks, while nurses were experiencing more abuse at work, and social stigma, she said.

‘‘You knock on anyone’s door, and you don’t know what you’re going to be faced with,’’ Rapoto said.

‘‘They try their very best to accommodate guests’ needs – whether it’s medical attention, getting them medicine or to see a doctor.’’

Nurses are allocated daily tasks depending on the number of guests and their health status, she said.

They visit each hotel room in full personal protective equipment where they do health checks, which the Government describes as ‘‘vital for your wellbeing and for others around you’’ in its MIQ welcome pack.

They also do temperature checks and Covid-19 testing depending on what day the returnee is on.

But chronic health and mental health problems ‘‘demand a lot of time and resources’’, Rapoto said. Facilities around the country were short-staffed, and one facility in Auckland had four nurses to check about 300 returnees. It would need seven nurses to be fully-staffed, she said.

Nurses were also acting as counsellors to returnees who were suffering from emotional distress.

‘‘Everyone seems to think they just come in, get put in a nice room and are fed for 14 days, and then they leave as long as they’ve had a negative test, but they don’t realise where these people are coming from,’’ she said.

‘‘Our nurses really feel for them. They are isolated already from their families and friends, from any contact and support.’’

She said there was a ‘‘limited’’ number of nurses willing to work in MIQ, where verbal abuse was increasing. ‘‘It’s really aggressive people who are frustrated and are venting and lashing out,’’ she said.

Out of work, nurses, their partners and children were also facing stigma.

‘‘Almost everyone has a horror story about being rejected from society in some way,’’ she said.

‘‘Some examples are things like family members not wanting to see them, friends who won’t see them, difficulty for them to get dental and medical treatment for themselves and their wha¯ nau, kids not being invited to play with their friends.’’

Nurses were pushing for the Government to slow the rate of returnees until facilities can be fully staffed amidst concerns the understaffing could contribute to a border breach. The union was meeting weekly with

national MIQ managers, she said.

‘‘We are constantly having these conversations, but they are slow off the ground in getting things done.’’

A December Ministry of Health report highlighted staff shortages and instability in the facilities. At the time, the ministry said most recommendations to address the problems had been implemented, but nurses this month spoke to RNZ about short staffing and high workloads in the facilities.

In a statement, a Government managed isolation and quarantine spokesperson said it was committed to the safety and wellbeing of frontline staff, who were doing ‘‘essential work’’.

It wouldn’t confirm if it was aware of any nurse shortages or the appropriate ratio of nurse to returnee, but said it was a question for the district health boards responsible for testing at the facilities and providing health and wellbeing support.