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RNZ News
32 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Health Minister Simeon Brown slams striking health workers for 'playing politics'
Simeon Brown has called for the cancellation of proposed strikes next month. Photo: Calvin Samuel / RNZ Health Minister Simeon Brown has criticised the nurses' union on Thursday afternoon, saying health workers are playing politics with patients' lives. The NZNO union cancelled a two-hour strike for perioperative, theatres and radiology services in Christchurch about 45 minutes before it was due to begin on Wednesday In a statement, Health New Zealand said there was no time to re-instate postponed appointments, affecting 85 patients. Health NZ confirmed nurses had, in July, been offered a pay increase of two percent this year and one percent next year on top of step-progression increases, with two additional "lump sum" payments of $325 over the next two years. Brown called a media conference with less than three hours' notice to call for the cancellation of more strikes planned for next month, saying they would "cause real, avoidable harm to more than 13,000 patients across the country". "As a direct result of the union's actions, more than 2200 surgeries will be canceled," he said. "Around 3600 first-specialist appointments will be delayed and about 8000 critical follow-up specialist appointments will be pushed back." He said the union had "put politics ahead of patients". The cancellation of the Christchurch strike was also "staggering" and he focused particularly on a social-media comment posted by one union member. "While union members walked back into work and collected a full day's pay, those patients lost the care they desperately needed. "A recent post on the New Zealand Nurses Organisation Facebook group suggested the late notice was a deliberate tactic to 'create chaos and keep health New Zealand guessing', even praising it as 'bloody beautiful tactics, comrades'." He claimed such tactics were "unacceptable" and "needs to be called out". "I ask them to tell that to the faces of the 13,000 patients, who are having their care cancelled, because they will see this as, frankly, them losing out on the care that they've already been waiting far too long for. "This is, quite frankly, playing politics with people's lives and it makes me furious. We value our nurses and the vital care that they provide." He pushed back, when reporters pointed out it was just one post by a member in a private group, rather than a statement from the union itself. "Well, I'm sorry, that is what the union did," he said. "The union cancelled the strike 45 minutes before the strike came into effect and that meant that 85 patients in Canterbury yesterday could not have their care rebooked. "If you look at their Facebook group, it was all about making sure that they kept health New Zealand guessing." Brown's statements followed Education Minister Erica Stanford and Public Service Minister Judith Collins saying secondary school teachers striking was "premeditated" and a "political stunt" . The union plans to strike next Wednesday over a one percent pay-rise offer, but the ministers said striking was deeply unfair on parents and students. Collins told Morning Report that teacher strikes were becoming a "yearly attack" on them . The government has recently cracked down on non-strike industrial action, but Brown said the union should be working with Health NZ and negotiating in good faith, rather than striking. "Ultimately, these are public servants who work in hospitals, and their role is to care for patients and put patients first," he said. "That is not what they're doing. "It's an incredibly important point that these union contracts not only have the increase that is on offer, but also have annual step increases, which those staff get, based on how many years that they are in the job, and that's a point that media don't highlight." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
32 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Christchurch Hospital staff poised to strike for two hours Friday afternoon
Nurses last struck for better staffing levels in July. Photo: RNZ/Calvin Samuel Nurses on three wards at Christchurch Hospital will walk off the job on Friday afternoon to protest chronic staffing shortages. The Nurses' Organisation (NZNO) said union members in theatre, post-anaesthetic care and radiology would strike for two hours from 2pm. NZNO Christchurch Hospital theatre delegate Gayl Marryatt said the strike was a result of the desperate staffing issues faced by members on a daily basis that had not been resolved in bargaining with Health New Zealand. "We hear of staff on the wards going home in tears, because they can't provide the care that they feel the patients need," she said. "The medications and treatments are getting delayed, because they just don't have the time to get round all their patients. "I've heard of hospital aids who sit with patients on the ward and that patient, in an entire shift, doesn't see a nurse, because they have a hospital aid with them, because nurses are dealing with sicker patients. "We are taking this action so Te Whatu Ora recognises there are not enough nurses, midwives, healthcare assistants and kaimahi hauora [health workers]." Health New Zealand encouraged the union to return to bargaining. "We are aware that NZNO have issued a strike notice for a two-hour withdrawal of labour tomorrow from 2-4pm, covering Christchurch Hospital members working in perioperative, theatres and radiology services," said industrial relations executive lead Robyn Shearer. "Contingency plans are in place to ensure the continued delivery of health services during the strike." Shearer said the NZNO withdrew a two-hour strike notice in Christchurch on Wednesday on behalf of perioperative, theatre and radiology services staff, shortly before they were due to walk off the job. "Given the notice, Health NZ contingency planners prepared accordingly, and postponed planned care and first specialist appointments in the impacted departments," she said. "The strike notice was lifted 45 minutes before the action was due to start, leaving no time to re-instate the postponed planned care and appointments. "Health NZ is deeply concerned at these actions and the impacts this will have on the 85 patients, who had their care postponed yesterday. "While we recognise the right of NZNO members to strike, actions such as those taken yesterday in Christchurch have real impacts on patients." Nurses planned to hold nationwide industrial action on 2 September and 4 September, calling for better nurse-to-patient ratios and a return to hiring every graduate. Health NZ said it was deeply concerned by September's strike plans, which it said would cause the postponement of more than 2200 planned procedures, 3600 first-specialist appointments and 8000 follow-up appointments. Nurses last went on strike in late July, [ with similar demands]. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
5 hours ago
- RNZ News
Maori nurses numbers need to increase fivefold
A new report shows New Zealand needs five times more Maori nurses if the workforce is to reflect the Maori population and be able to provide culturally safe health care. The report was written by economic consultancy company Infometrics and has just been released at the Indigenous Nurses Aotearoa Conference in Rotorua. Maori make up 18% of the New Zealand population but only 7.4 per cent of the nursing workforce and Maori are dying seven years lower than non-Maori. Te Runanga o Aotearoa, New Zealand Nurses Organisation's Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku says the report shows Aotearoa New Zealand needs about 1,350 more Maori nurses a year for the next decade to achieve population parity. She joins Susie to discuss what needs to change To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
