Performance Payment Tops Nurses' Annual Salary

The Nurses Organisation has slammed performance payments for Canterbury DHB management exceeding a nurses' annual salary.

$1.9 million in performance payments was paid to Canterbury DHB managers in the past two years.

The largest payment was $30,000 - more than the annual salary of a new nurse with a three-year degree in the South Island.

"The comparison shows the stupidity of performance pay in the health system," said Nurses Organisation chief executive Geoff Annals today.

"To earn more than the pitiful base rate, a nurse employed at the same DHB has to perform not only throughout every shift, but throughout shifts at very unsociable hours."

Geoff Annals said the level of "performance payments" showed the need to seriously reconsider the priorities of the health system.

"Something is wrong when a performance payment exceeds the annual pay of a well-performing, hardworking nurse," he said.

Geoff Annals said NZNO was embarking on a major campaign to lift pay rates for nursing staff.

"It's time that pay rates for nursing staff were prioritised and our nurses, midwives and health assistants were paid what they are worth," he said.

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