New Zealand’s health budget must keep up with need

New Zealand’s health budget must keep up with need

New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) delegate and registered nurse Bronwyne Albright is calling on the Government to increase health spending by at least 4.7 percent in Thursday’s Budget, just to maintain our health care services.

“I did my nurse training late. I’ve been a nurse for 12 years now, and I don’t regret the decision I made to take up a career where I could help people.” she says.

“But now, we see people on waiting lists getting pushed off due to short staffing and sent back to their doctor because the operating theatre can’t be staffed safely. It breaks my heart to have to tell families who came in at 7am for surgery and have been waiting all day that it’s now 5pm and their surgery is cancelled. This is an impact of short staffing - our patients have to put their whole lives on hold.”

“The nursing team has been doing more with less for years. It’s getting to the point that we’re really worried about our colleagues, our patients, our jobs and the level of health care available for people in our country."

“We’re nurses. We want to provide high quality care for everyone who needs it and that’s what we’d prefer to be doing. But when the health system is underfunded by over a billion dollars– we have to speak up. New Zealanders need to know what’s actually going on.”

“If our health system was properly funded, we could get back to caring the way patients need us to, the way that we were meant to. We become nurses to get joy from helping people, not to have to tell them they can’t get the help they need because of budget cuts.”

“We think the people of New Zealand want great healthcare they can access where and when they need it, too.”

Ends.

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