Welcome to the College of Nurses Aotearoa News Update.
No. 632 Wednesday 8 March 2023
Weekly news round-up of nursing and health information in New Zealand and internationally
New Zealand news
Te Aka Whai Ora strengthens nursing leadership with new appointment - NZ Doctor
Te Aka Whai Ora - Māori Health Authority is pleased to announce the appointment of Nadine Gray (Te Whakatōhea) as Chief Nursing Officer. In this specialist advisory role, Nadine will provide a broad range of clinical advice and support across Te Aka Whai Ora.
Nurses Call On National To Provide Specifics On Fixing The Health Crisis - Scoop NZ
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) has noted the National Party’s commitment to providing better health services announced in Christopher Luxon’s State of the Nation speech yesterday.
Immigration declines residency visa for family of much-needed Wairoa nurse | RNZ News
A family has been denied New Zealand residency on the grounds their daughter is a medical burden to the country.
Cyclone Gabrielle: Hawke's Bay nurse working through it after cyclone takes home
Three days after Maria Hollingshead “lost everything” in Cyclone Gabrielle, she was back on the front line at Hawke’s Bay Hospital.
Nurse leaves hospital surgery behind to look after wildlife with her dogs - Otago Daily Times
Karin Bos was a nurse at Christchurch Hospital for 20 years. Now she cares for some of the most precious wildlife on Banks Peninsula. Heidi Slade reports.
International news
Immersive Virtual Reality (VR) technology Brings “Real World” Nursing to Students
At Herzing University, a Milwaukee-based private university, nursing students are participating in an immersive VR nursing education experience where “they must navigate real challenges nurses encounter on the job: prioritizing multiple patients with varied, complex cases; colleague interruptions; and patient requests.”
Texas short 30,000 nurses as threat of hospital closures loom
Texas has reached historic workforce shortages with 30,000 unfilled nursing positions and 500,000 nurses expected to leave this year, CBS News reported Mar. 1.
South Australia expands graduate program to secure future nursing and midwifery workforce
South Australia is set to double its nurse and midwife graduate intake in 2023, including two new initiatives aimed to encourage more graduates to work and stay in the state. SA Health Chief Nurse and Midwifery Officer Jenny Hurley talks to the ANMJ.
Female nurses less likely to have career progress for years after maternity leave, study finds
A study has found that female nurses who take maternity leave had less active career progression for years after returning to work, compared to childless male colleagues.
'Stop the bleeding,' Philippines health official says about international recruiting of nurses
Less developed countries concerned rich nations exploiting fragile health systems
Province planning to bring 350 nurses to Manitoba after recruiting mission in Philippines
A Manitoba delegation has returned from the Philippines and it’s bringing with it some help for Manitoba’s ailing health-care system
1,670 Nigerian nurses move to UK in six months
A total of 1,670 Nigerian-trained nurses were licenced to practice in the United Kingdom within six months, Sunday PUNCH reports.
Université de Moncton president calls on province to eliminate tuition for nursing students – New Brunswick IG News
The president of Université de Moncton says the best way to rapidly increase the number of nursing grads in New Brunswick would be to eliminate tuition fees for four-year Bachelor of Nursing programs in the province.
Aged care / aging population
Virtual nursing - the answer to staff shortages or a short cut?
Virtual nursing is on the rise in the aged care sector, in response to a chronic workforce shortage. 30 aged care homes around the country are using a virtual nursing service, to make sure they have registered nurses to cover overnight and other essential shifts.
MP brokers health solution for 60 rest home residents at risk of losing GP
A new health provider has been found for 60 north Taranaki rest home residents who faced losing their GP at the end of April.
Alternative therapies
Rongoā Māori expert worried over proposed therapeutics bill
With only a few days left until submissions close, a rongoā Māori practitioner and member of Wai 262 is speaking out against the proposed Therapeutic Products Bill.
Cancer issues
'Merit' in extending breast screening eligibility to 74, Parliament committee says
There is support to extend the age of eligibility for free breast cancer screening from Parliament’s petitions committee, which says more work should have been done on this in the last six years.
Education
Nurses by the dozen: University of Waikato responds to health workforce crisis - NZ Herald
The University of Waikato has doubled its intake of nursing students for 2023 in the face of severe staff shortages in the health workforce, welcoming a record 211 new students into its Registered Nursing programmes.
Te Whatu Ora Health NZ
Whangārei Hospital managers backed nurses' call for army to help during staffing crisis
Whangārei Hospital managers asked for the army to help during a staffing crisis but were turned down, a document shows.
Te Whatu Ora boosts nurses' pay by thousands but 'irritation' remains | Stuff.co.nz
Nurses remain at loggerheads with the Government over back pay and pay rates their biggest union says are still discriminatory on the basis of sex, although some have had a boost of $10,000 or more to their pay packets.
Counties Manukau waiting list jumps 46% in a year
Waiting lists for a first specialist appointment have jumped by 46% in Counties Manukau.
Overrun Christchurch Hospital diverts patients to smaller hospitals in Canterbury | Stuff.co.nz
Christchurch Hospital is sending patients needing surgery to smaller regional hospitals in Canterbury due a shortage in anaesthetic technicians, a surgeon says.
Funding shortfall results in 'inequity for our rural community': Hospital boss
Gore and Oamaru hospitals service similar sized populations, but one receives $8 million more in funding, including a recent $3m boost.
NZNO Acknowledges Outgoing Health Chair Rob Campbell - Scoop NZ
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation, Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) has acknowledged the hard mahi on behalf of nurses done by ...
Nurses lose advocate with Campbell sacking - Waatea News: Māori Radio Station
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation says health workers had lost a powerful and important advocate in the sacking of Te Whatu Ora Health NZ chair ...
Naomi Ferguson named interim board chairperson of Te Whatu Ora – Health NZ
Naomi Ferguson, a former commissioner and chief executive of Inland Revenue, will helm Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand as its interim board chairperson after Rob Campbell’s abrupt sacking last week.
Parting shots: More instability for health sector after Rob Campbell's sacking
The overloaded health sector has changed ministers and lost one of its key champions in the space of a few weeks, while also being in the midst of ongoing, major reforms, but Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall has refused to front on the issue.
Outspoken former health boss Rob Campbell lashes out at 'constipated' health system
Outspoken former health boss Rob Campbell has described the health system as “like a blocked digestive system”, and says hundreds of duplicated jobs from the former district health board system could be re-deployed to the frontline.
Newsable: Prime Minister Chris Hipkins looks to restore confidence in ‘constipated’ health system
A former Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ chair reckons the health agency could do with a bit of a laxative - and the prime minister’s singing from the same song sheet.
Chris Hipkins agrees with criticism that staffing within the health system is looking bloated and misdirected, and hopes a successful reorganisation of the sector will help boost his party’s economic credentials in an election year.
HDC and disciplinary cases
Christchurch health worker faces employment backlash after racist social media posts
A Christchurch health worker who proudly displays her job and workplace while spouting racist and discriminatory comments on social media has come to the attention of her employers, Te Whatu Ora.
Mental health
Psychological Recovery From Disasters Needs Support
Recovering psychologically from a disaster can take years and requires people to feel in control of their lives again.
Exercise Should Be The First Choice In Treating Depression
Exercise should be the primary treatment for depression and other common mental health conditions, according to University of South Australia (UniSA) researchers.
Midwifery and maternity
Midwives' Union Says Members Are Furious About Ongoing Delays In Addressing Pay Equity Issue
Midwives employed by Te Whatu Ora in the country’s hospitals are fed up that they are not being listened to and they are planning actions to make their voices roar, MERAS, the Midwives’ union, says.
Pharmacy
Pharmac makes Keytruda, Tecentriq available for lung cancer patients
The Cancer Society is welcoming Pharmac's decision to fund two lung cancer treatments, which will improve outcomes for patients, it says.
Public health
Free flu vaccinations extended to babies from six months
Free flu vaccinations for children are being extended to babies from six months old.
Free flu vaccine to be available to children, more Māori and Pasifika people
Free flu vaccines are being offered to tamariki and some Māori and Pacific people ahead of winter.
Aotearoa needs to up its game on HPV vaccination to protect tamariki
Unless Aotearoa ups its game on HPV vaccination we will “without a doubt... have a huge crisis” on our hands in future, a doctor warns.
Supermarket vouchers part of push to turn around dire child immunisation stats
Supermarket vouchers are at the centre of a new health programme hoped to tackle low child immunisation rates for measles, mumps and rubella.
Social health
Women abused by partners have increased physical, mental health risks, study finds
Family violence is making New Zealanders sick, new research shows.
Research from the University of Auckland shows women who experienced intimate partner violence are almost three times as likely to have a diagnosed mental health condition.
Sound and vision
50,000 Kiwis at Risk of Developing Glaucoma
Auckland, New Zealand – Aucklanders are being encouraged to attend the launch of what is believed to be this country’s largest ever free public glaucoma risk assessment drive in a bid to catch “the thief of sight” and support Glaucoma New Zealand’s March Awareness campaign.
Stroke
Stroke Charities Join Together To Reduce Stroke, Improve Outcomes And Save Lives
The Stroke Foundation of New Zealand and Stroke Central New Zealand are pleased to announce their intention to amalgamate on 1 July to ensure that a unified national organisation will achieve their shared goals of reducing strokes, improving outcomes and saving lives.
Tobacco, drugs and alcohol
What the alcohol industry doesn't want you to know
In The Drinking Game (Allen & Unwin, RRP $36.99), journalist Guyon Espiner explores what drives drinking culture, and why the alcohol industry is given a “free ride” despite selling a drug that causes enormous harm. In this edited extract, Espiner delves into exactly the problem with alcohol.
Women’s health
Celebrating The Proposed Aotearoa Women’s Health Strategy On International Women’s Day
On International Women’s Day (March 8th), The College) is celebrating the government’s commitment to women’s health with the strategy which is currently under development.
Ministry of Health reports
Anti-Racism Maturity Models – Lessons for the Aotearoa New Zealand Health System (Stage Three Literature Review)
This is the third and final literature review in the Ao Mai te Rā series. This review examines the key features, characteristics and utility of an anti-racism maturity model approach. It explores a range of models that chart an evolutionary pathway for anti-racism practice.
Best Practice Approaches to Addressing Racism – Lessons for the Aotearoa New Zealand Health System (Stage Two Literature Review)
This is the second literature review in the Ao Mai te Rā series. This review explores best practice approaches to addressing racism in all its forms.
Whiria te Muka Tangata: Anti-Racism Systems Change
A Preliminary Model for the Aotearoa New Zealand Health System
Reports and journals
Pacific Health Review
Issue 36
Welcome to Issue 36 of Pacific Health Review.
This issue covers a range of topics of interest to Pacific people living in Aotearoa NZ, including a suggested overhaul of the childhood vaccination programme in NZ to ensure the most at-risk are vaccinated first. Read more
I just want to be me: trans and gender diverse communities’ access to and experiences of palliative & end of life care
Hospice UK
This report, based on first-hand research with the trans and gender-diverse community and those working in end-of-life care, explores the barriers faced by trans and gender-diverse people when accessing end-of-life, hospice and palliative care, and sets out recommendations for how to tackle them.
Progression of parents in NHS medical and nursing careers
This report examines how the length of parental leave and rates of progression after having children vary by specialty, gender and other staff characteristics among doctors, dentists, nurses and midwives in the English NHS.
The above information has been collated for the College of Nurses Aotearoa (NZ) Inc by Linda Stopforth, SNIPS and is provided on a weekly basis. It is current as of 7 March
If you have any feedback about content - what parts are most useful or what you would like added - please email admin@nurse.org.nz
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