New Zealanders say patients at risk because of nurse shortages

Most New Zealanders – 83% – believe patient safety is at risk because there are not enough nurses, new polling by Talbot Mills Research has found.

The polling commissioned by Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO and released today in full, also found 94% of New Zealanders believe it is important to address staff shortages in the health sector. The poll of 1,020 people also found only a third believe the Government values and listens to nurses.

More than 37,500 of NZNO's Te Whatu Ora nurses, midwives, health care assistants and kaimahi hauora are in the second week of a fortnight of strike actions to highlight unsafe staffing levels throughout the public health system. The actions follow stalled collective agreement negotiations.

NZNO delegate and Rotorua emergency nurse Lyn Logan says since the beginning of last week, NZNO's Te Whatu Ora members have been refusing to be redeployed away from their patients.

"Te Whatu Ora has become reliant on the goodwill of nurses, health care assistants and kaimahi hauora to leave the specialist care they do in their own wards and be moved around the hospital to cover roster gaps caused by chronic short staffing. They often work 12‑hour shifts after picking up additional hours to plug the gaps.

"These roster gaps are a direct result of Te Whatu Ora's recruitment freeze. They are putting patients at risk, and they are completely preventable.

"Emergency Departments (EDs) are almost always short‑staffed. If they are lucky enough to get additional help, it's from ward nurses who are then working at short notice in busy and unfamiliar settings with trauma and acutely unwell patients.

"Sadly, this is not new. It is a practice that Coroner Ian Telford recently raised concern about following the 2020 death of Taranaki man Len Collett. The Coroner also found Taranaki Base Hospital ED now has 15 FTE nurses fewer than it did on the busy evening Len Collett died.

"Te Whatu Ora was warned by the Coroner that 'consciously deciding' to under‑resource is creating a high risk of 'another catastrophic event'. Yet almost 40 days of bargaining later, hospitals remain chronically short‑staffed and vacancies are still not being filled.

"It is time for enforceable safe staffing nurse‑to‑patient ratios now," Lyn Logan says.