North Shore district nurse and union delegate Lesley Pook said nurses were having to rush appointments and ration care due to short-staffing. Photo: RNZ / Jessica Hopkins
Nurses have begun a new round of industrial action as they push for better staffing levels.
Local action included district nurses on Auckland's North Shore wearing t-shirts saying 'Not Enough Nurses' instead of uniforms while working to draw attention to the issue.
Nurses who worked in the Cardiothoracic and Vascular Intensive Care Units at Auckland City and Whangārei Hospital would refuse to shift to other wards to cover staff shortages.
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) said it followed the 24-hour nationwide strike by 36,000 Te What Ora nurses, midwives and healthcare workers at the end of last month.
NZNO delegate and North Shore district nurse Lesley Pook told RNZ the team hoped to bring attention to the "chronic" understaffing that had been happening for years.
"This current government does seem to be deaf and is really not listening to the nurses with regard to this issue," she said.
"It's been going on for way too long. People are just really struggling. I feel really heartbroken with what I see happening in my team, the daily stress that we're under, and the impact that it has on our patients is really upsetting as well."
Pook said that the North Shore District nursing service was short of six staff.
"I'm just so passionate about our health service and what we do as nurses. I don't want that to be devalued, not only from a pay perspective, that's not really the priority for me at the moment. It's that if we don't have enough staff, we can't deliver the professional care that we've trained to give. And that is really heartbreaking for the nurse."
She said the public health service was a precious taonga and needed to be looked after.
District nurses on Auckland's North Shore wear t-shirts saying 'Not Enough Nurses' as part of industrial action over staffing levels. Photo: RNZ / Jessica Hopkins
NZNO Whangārei Hospital delegate Chantelle Thompson said the strike was about safe staffing and putting patient safety first.
"Nurses are currently sent to other areas that are short-staffed when required, but this often results in their own areas becoming understaffed. They are also sometimes seeing patients outside their areas with no orientation and are often unfamiliar with these patients," she said.
"We want to highlight the massive gap within Te Whatu Ora and the need to have safe staff-to-patient ratios implemented."
Health New Zealand executive lead industrial relations Robyn Shearer said the agency was aware of the strike action by some nurses in the Northern region from Monday.
"Where appropriate contingency plans are in place to ensure the continued delivery of health services during strike action," she said.
North Shore district nurse Rosie Davenport said district nursing team locally and nationwide been "crying out for more staff for years now". Photo: RNZ / Jessica Hopkins
North Shore district nurse Rosie Davenport, who has worked at the service since graduating six years ago, said understaffing made her job distressing.
"You come in and look at the staffing for the day, and you just want to cry.
"Ultimately, we're here for the patients. I love my job and looking after people, and I wish we could do it effectively."
Acting Minister of Health Matt Doocey said the union should come back to the negotiating table.
"We value our nurses and the vital care they give patients. That's why our government has invested heavily in our nursing workforce. The number of nurses employed by Health New Zealand has increased by over 2100 since 2023," he said.
"Patient safety is Health New Zealand's top priority, but the NZNO Union is choosing to put politics ahead of patients."
Nurses planned to hold nationwide industrial action on 2 September and 4 September.
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.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
