New Zealand Health Group Concern On PPE

Josephine Gagan, New Zealand Health Group Chief Executive

(on behalf of Geneva Healthcare and HealthCare NZ)

New Zealand Health Group’s Crisis Management Response Committee has been very proactive in planning for the resurgence of Covid-19 and currently implementing our second wave pandemic plan. We have also been providing our staff and the people we support with the necessary information and regular updates, and have an open line of communication if they have any concerns or queries so that we can work with them on a solution in keeping with the Ministry of Health (MoH) guidelines.

As always, the health and safety of our staff and the people we support is our top priority.

To that point, while we fully support the need for our staff to access Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), we have grave concerns regarding the issue of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) on the following points:

· Guidance: We are still seeking the Ministry for their updated guidance on the appropriate use of PPE. Their previous guidance for Alert Level 3 is not applicable due to its inconsistency in the usage of masks, i.e. given the current advice for Auckland under Alert Level 3 where everyone is required to wear masks. The updated guidelines are critical as they form the basis for the allocation and distribution of PPE to our frontline staff. Complementing the guidelines, full transparency and consistency in what is being communicated to the health and wellbeing sector versus the wider public needs to follow suit.

· Stocks: We have ramped up our PPE distribution to our frontline workers as we forecast an increase in demand due to the current situation. To that point, we have been proactive in ordering the additional required stock levels which, unfortunately, are not being matched by what is in the pipeline to be delivered to us from the Ministry. Given the forecast usage which is currently unmatched by what is being supplied by the Ministry, we could soon be running out of the necessary PPE supplies that are critical to protect both our frontline staff and the people we support.

We are very concerned that we are once again experiencing the difficulties that our sector have had on the onset of this pandemic. Our concern is for our staff who are vulnerable without adequate PPE, and for the thousands of clients that we support who are amongst some of the most vulnerable people in New Zealand.

We respectfully request for the Ministry to show full transparency and prioritise these issues urgently.

Left unresolved, we are quite literally endangering the very health and safety of every New Zealander.

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