Hutt Valley/Rotorua/Tauranga NZNO members employed by Te Whatu Ora will today strike for four hours over patient safety concerns following recent collective bargaining with Health NZ.

New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa members fear Te Whatu Ora’s plans to pause a key component of its safe staffing programme put patient and whānau safety and wellbeing at risk.

NZNO Lakes delegate and spokesperson Lyn Logan is striking because she says Te Whatu Ora’s "constant financial constraints impact the care she and her colleagues provide their patients".

“For me, it’s about informing the public who use health services and my community, that if I do not strike then I am not committed to improving health services in my region.

“I want to give our community the best care I can when they come into the hospital. At present I cannot do this,” Lyn Logan said.

Tauranga delegate Helena Joyce says she is striking because as a nurse she’s witnessed how dangerous understaffing can be.

“Nurses get overworked and then can make mistakes.

“Years of effort have gone into CCDM FTE calculations and now they are putting it on hold. There seems to be no point to this except to normalise understaffing,” Helena Joyce said.

Health NZ prepared for rolling strikes

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora can reassure the public that plans and mitigations are in place to manage the rolling strikes by New Zealand Nurses Organisation members across the country on different days from December 10-19, 1-5pm.

Strike action is being planned for the Bay of Plenty and Lakes regions for December 13.

“As with previous strike activity our hospitals and emergency departments will remain open, and health professionals will still be available to ensure the continued availability of health services for those who need them,” said northern regional deputy chief executive Mark Sheperd.

Due to the strike activity some clinics may be closed to maintain patient safety.

Anyone with a hospital appointment on the day of the strike in their region should attend unless contacted directly by the service. Any appointments that are deferred will be rescheduled for the next available opportunity.

“We are concerned about recent incorrect claims by the NZNO on staffing levels and the use of the Care Capacity Demand Management programme,” said Sheperd.

“I can reassure the public that Health NZ is committed to safe staffing, and we are not pausing the CCDM programme.

“We are undertaking a rapid improvement programme to assure the accuracy and quality of data, and the methodology used for CCDM FTE calculations.”

FTE calculations will resume in the new year and be aligned to ongoing budget and planning cycles.

“We greatly value the significant contribution of our nursing workforce in helping to care for the health of New Zealanders and their communities and we are committed to reaching a settlement with NZNO.

“Any settlement needs to reflect the ongoing reset of Health NZ as we work to get back to budget and complete the restructuring underway.”

Since 2011 nurse salaries have outperformed the broader labour market outcomes, as shown through comparison against the Labour Cost Index.

For registered nurses, the top salary step has risen by 45% since 2011 with an additional 25% from the recent pay equity settlement on top of that.

“We believe bargaining is the most effective way to resolve the outstanding issues and avoid any further disruption to patients and the wider health system.”