Agencies under fire as migrant nurses jobless
Recruitment agencies are coming under fire as Internationally Qualified Nurses (IQNs) are relocating to New Zealand and struggling to find jobs.
The country is still crying out for nurses with 2630 vacancies yet to be filled, according to the most recent data from Health New Zealand/Te Whatu Ora.
But the Government’s haste to plug the shortage has resulted in unethical recruitment, nurses union New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) says.
The union has urged recruitment agencies to ensure their nurse clients have secured employment before bringing them into the country.
IQNs wanting to move to New Zealand are eligible to work in the health sector if they receive a skilled migrant visa, resident visa, straight-to-residence visa or an accredited employer work visa.
RNZ reported on Tuesday that healthcare workers were recruited by a company operating in Canterbury, which promised them jobs and a valid visa if they relocated to New Zealand.
However, the recruitment company has left them stranded without employment, and they are now facing difficulty securing work in the country.
NZNO Kaiwhakahaere (chief executive) Kerri Nuku said there appeared to be no responsibility for agencies to provide employment to hundreds of IQNs.
“NZNO recognises the importance of ethical recruitment. We have serious concerns about the recruitment agencies that are incentivised to flood Aotearoa with nurses, particularly from India,” Nuku said.
Almost 50% of trained nurses who have registered to work in New Zealand since the country’s borders opened in 2022 have arrived from India, according to Immigration New Zealand statistics as of December 1.
But some nurses are unable to be employed despite completing New Zealand’s competency assessment programme and holding NZ practising certificates (APCs).
Competence assessment programmes (CAP) providers are private companies.
Managing Director of Accent Health Recruitment and registered nurse Prudence Thompson said she was “disgusted” to see so many IQNs that had been offered registration in New Zealand not working.
“There’s so many of these nurses who have done this CAP course and they are not being offered placements. It’s setting them up for failure.
“The challenge with CAP IQNs is they come to New Zealand and do a [nine] week course and they are essentially the equivalent to a New Zealand trained nurse, but they're not [and] there is enough senior nurses to support these nurses.”
She felt the Nursing Council and companies running the CAP courses needed to be held accountable.
“These colleges running the CAP courses are taking $10,000 per nurse knowing full well that these nurses are not getting employed. It’s unethical,” she said.
Nuku said the ongoing importation of IQNs has put a strain on the system with training, culturalisation and finding effective support for them once they’re in jobs.
“The Government now needs to consolidate the situation with the existing number of IQNs in the country to ensure they get jobs along with appropriate training and support and this means we need to freeze the recruitment of IQNs and discontinue the incentives for recruitment agencies to bring them out,” she said.
Te Whatu Ora chief people officer Andrew Slater said they had local approaches to supporting IQNs to get familiar with local practices and communities, including ensuring the cultural safety of new IQNs.