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Health bosses need to step up
18 June 2018
Nurses a vital part of public health system; health bosses need to step up
“It’s up to health bosses now to put aside their point-scoring and knuckle down to the task of reaching an agreement with nurses to avoid national strikes,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS).
He was commenting on an announcement by the New Zealand Nurses Organisation that the latest DHB MECA offer has been strongly rejected by nurses and that the union is seeking urgent mediation to resolve the issues so two 24-hour national strikes can be avoided (https://www.nzno.org.nz/about_us/media_releases/articletype/articleview/articleid/2778/nzno-seeking-urgent-mediation).
“Senior doctors are sad that their hospital nursing colleagues have been put in a position where strike action, which is always a last resort, is considered necessary,” he says.
“Nurses are a skilled, dedicated workforce and the fact things have deteriorated to this point reflects a crisis of leadership in our public health system. This has intensified under the last eight years of deliberate Government under-funding which has taken its toll. It has resulted in the devaluing of the vital role of nursing both by Government and district health boards.
“Nurses are a vital part of the public health system, working alongside other health professionals such as senior doctors to provide quality patient care. They don’t deserve to be treated as a balance sheet liability.”
He attributes the current situation to poor leadership made worse by recent foolish point-scoring by the DHBs’ national representatives.
“They tried to use the media to pressure nurses into accepting their offer by suggesting that the pay packet for a few nurses in extreme working circumstances would be typical of a much wider group. Nurses saw through this ruse, were angered, and have responded accordingly.”
Mr Powell called on DHB leaders to behave responsibly and sensitively in the media.
“They need to get better advice, for a start. Nurses haven’t been on a national strike like this for more than 30 years, which must tell you something about their measured approach to negotiations. Urgent mediation is an opportunity for the DHB negotiators to resolve the issues.”
He says senior doctors will have a range of views on the strikes but understand that it is the result of poor leadership by our health bosses and previous health ministers.
“Overwhelmingly they support nurses’ wishes to be valued, to receive better and fairer pay and working conditions, and not to be treated simply as a financial cost to the system. Nurses and senior doctors work closely together. They depend on each other. They are colleagues, friends and mates.”
ASMS has provided advice to senior doctors and dentists about their role during a national nurses’ strike, and this is available on the ASMS website at: http://createsend.com/t/i-06933A1B2AC779B52540EF23F30FEDED
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