Latest news with #NewZealandNursesOrganisationTōpūtangaTapuhiKaitiakioAotearoa
Scoop
20-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Funding Primary Care Nurses The Answer To The Health Crisis
Press Release – NZNO NZNO chief executive Paul Goulter says after recent wage rounds come into effect in July, most primary and community care nurse will still earn an average of 10% or $10,129 less a year than their hospital counterparts. To fix chronic staff shortages stopping New Zealanders seeing their GPs when they're sick, the Coalition Government must use Budget 2025 to keep nurses in the sector by paying them the same as hospital nurses, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) says. NZNO chief executive Paul Goulter says after recent wage rounds come into effect in July, most primary and community care nurse will still earn an average of 10% or $10,129 less a year than their hospital counterparts. 'There are currently 4884 FTE nurses working in primary and community care. NZNO calculations show that 274 more FTE nurses are needed in the sector to cover the care of the 300,000 New Zealanders who can't even enrol with a primary health organisation such as a GP clinic. 'That means Budget 2025 needs to provide $52.3 million to ensure there is a sustainable primary and community health nursing workforce that can care for all New Zealanders. This would help take the pressure off hospital emergency departments which are overwhelmed with people who can't see their local doctors when they first get sick,' Paul Goulter says. If the Coalition Government is serious about fixing the health system, it needs to fix primary and community care. 'The difference in pay with hospital nurses largely reflects the pay equity settlement Te Whatu Ora nurses received. Following the Coalition Government's gutting of the pay equity scheme and having to refile the primary and community care claim, this gap is only going to widen. 'Shovelling three times the amount to overseas owned urgent care franchises which most New Zealanders can't afford to go to, is not the solution,' Paul Goulter says. NZNO Primary Health Care Nurses College chair Tracey Morgan says earning $10,129 a year more would have a considerable impact on primary and community care nurses. 'Having that additional income would pay the average rent of a home in Hamilton, near where I live, for a third of the year. It could make the difference between a primary and community nurse staying in their role, helping whānau they have watched grow up, rather than leaving for better paid work in hospitals or overseas. 'We have the same skills and qualifications as hospital nurses. It is only fair that we are paid the same,' Tracey Morgan says. Background: – Research published in the Journal of Primary Health Care has found that New Zealand invests 5.4% of its total health funding in primary care. – Other OECD countries allocate an average of 14% of their health spending to primary care. – Evidence shows that for every $1 spent on primary care, $14 is saved in hospital-based, or secondary health care.
Scoop
20-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Funding Primary Care Nurses The Answer To The Health Crisis
Press Release – NZNO NZNO chief executive Paul Goulter says after recent wage rounds come into effect in July, most primary and community care nurse will still earn an average of 10% or $10,129 less a year than their hospital counterparts. To fix chronic staff shortages stopping New Zealanders seeing their GPs when they're sick, the Coalition Government must use Budget 2025 to keep nurses in the sector by paying them the same as hospital nurses, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) says. NZNO chief executive Paul Goulter says after recent wage rounds come into effect in July, most primary and community care nurse will still earn an average of 10% or $10,129 less a year than their hospital counterparts. 'There are currently 4884 FTE nurses working in primary and community care. NZNO calculations show that 274 more FTE nurses are needed in the sector to cover the care of the 300,000 New Zealanders who can't even enrol with a primary health organisation such as a GP clinic. 'That means Budget 2025 needs to provide $52.3 million to ensure there is a sustainable primary and community health nursing workforce that can care for all New Zealanders. This would help take the pressure off hospital emergency departments which are overwhelmed with people who can't see their local doctors when they first get sick,' Paul Goulter says. If the Coalition Government is serious about fixing the health system, it needs to fix primary and community care. 'The difference in pay with hospital nurses largely reflects the pay equity settlement Te Whatu Ora nurses received. Following the Coalition Government's gutting of the pay equity scheme and having to refile the primary and community care claim, this gap is only going to widen. 'Shovelling three times the amount to overseas owned urgent care franchises which most New Zealanders can't afford to go to, is not the solution,' Paul Goulter says. NZNO Primary Health Care Nurses College chair Tracey Morgan says earning $10,129 a year more would have a considerable impact on primary and community care nurses. 'Having that additional income would pay the average rent of a home in Hamilton, near where I live, for a third of the year. It could make the difference between a primary and community nurse staying in their role, helping whānau they have watched grow up, rather than leaving for better paid work in hospitals or overseas. 'We have the same skills and qualifications as hospital nurses. It is only fair that we are paid the same,' Tracey Morgan says. Background: – Research published in the Journal of Primary Health Care has found that New Zealand invests 5.4% of its total health funding in primary care. – Other OECD countries allocate an average of 14% of their health spending to primary care. – Evidence shows that for every $1 spent on primary care, $14 is saved in hospital-based, or secondary health care.
Scoop
20-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Funding Primary Care Nurses The Answer To The Health Crisis
Tuesday, 20 May 2025, 4:38 pm Press Release: NZNO To fix chronic staff shortages stopping New Zealanders seeing their GPs when they're sick, the Coalition Government must use Budget 2025 to keep nurses in the sector by paying them the same as hospital nurses, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) says. NZNO chief executive Paul Goulter says after recent wage rounds come into effect in July, most primary and community care nurse will still earn an average of 10% or $10,129 less a year than their hospital counterparts. "There are currently 4884 FTE nurses working in primary and community care. NZNO calculations show that 274 more FTE nurses are needed in the sector to cover the care of the 300,000 New Zealanders who can't even enrol with a primary health organisation such as a GP clinic. "That means Budget 2025 needs to provide $52.3 million to ensure there is a sustainable primary and community health nursing workforce that can care for all New Zealanders. This would help take the pressure off hospital emergency departments which are overwhelmed with people who can't see their local doctors when they first get sick," Paul Goulter says. If the Coalition Government is serious about fixing the health system, it needs to fix primary and community care. "The difference in pay with hospital nurses largely reflects the pay equity settlement Te Whatu Ora nurses received. Following the Coalition Government's gutting of the pay equity scheme and having to refile the primary and community care claim, this gap is only going to widen. "Shovelling three times the amount to overseas owned urgent care franchises which most New Zealanders can't afford to go to, is not the solution," Paul Goulter says. NZNO Primary Health Care Nurses College chair Tracey Morgan says earning $10,129 a year more would have a considerable impact on primary and community care nurses. "Having that additional income would pay the average rent of a home in Hamilton, near where I live, for a third of the year. It could make the difference between a primary and community nurse staying in their role, helping whānau they have watched grow up, rather than leaving for better paid work in hospitals or overseas. "We have the same skills and qualifications as hospital nurses. It is only fair that we are paid the same," Tracey Morgan says. Background: - Research published in the Journal of Primary Health Care has found that New Zealand invests 5.4% of its total health funding in primary care. - Other OECD countries allocate an average of 14% of their health spending to primary care. - Evidence shows that for every $1 spent on primary care, $14 is saved in hospital-based, or secondary health care. © Scoop Media
Scoop
12-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Struggling Hospice Nurses Shattered By Pay Equity Changes
This year's Hospice Awareness Week comes as hospices struggle to keep their doors open because of a lack of Government funding and nurses' chances of fair pay shattered by the removal of their pay equity claim, NZNO says. The New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) hospice pay equity claim was filed in late-2023 covering 27 hospices employing its members. That claim, alongside nine others for NZNO, were thrown out by the Government last week with its to pay equity law changes. Hospice New Zealand today said Te Whatu Ora had refused to adjust their funding so hospice nurses and health care assistants could be paid the same as their hospital counterparts. Hospices could not afford to fund the widening pay gap as at least 35% of hospice nurses' wages came from fundraising and donations because of chronic underfunding of the sector. NZNO delegate and hospice nurse Donna Burnett says hospice nurses are demoralised and angered by last week's announcement. "Hospices are already facing service cutbacks, with a strong possibility of closures in small region because of the current lack of funding. It is not sustainable. On top of this, at the swipe of a pen and a blink of an eye, Government pulled pay equity out from under us." Due to New Zealand's aging population, the crisis for hospices will only worsen if the Government doesn't step up and properly fund the sector, she says. "We are meant to be raising awareness about hospices this week, but the reality is people need to be aware of what's happening to us nurses and health care assistants because it impacts our patients. "Without pay equity and a fully funded sector, hospices will keep losing nurses and health care assistants to better paying hospitals or overseas health systems. "Dying New Zealanders and their whānau have enough to worry about without not being able to access hospice care because of short staffing which is a direct result of Government decisions," Donna Burnett says.
