Thanking new zealand nurses on 2024 international nurses day

International Nurses Day is a Global celebration that acknowledges and celebrates the commitment and bravery of nurses around the world. Celebrated on the 12th of May 2024, the birthday of Florence Nightingale. We celebrate IND as a way of shining a light on the invaluable contributions of nurses to the health of people at all stages of life.

The theme of International Nurses Day 2024 is ‘Our Nurses. Our Future. The economic power of care.’ 

Current Challenges for New Zealand Nurses

As part of ‘Care Closer to Home’ NPANZ believes that local Nurses, putting the ‘heart back into nursing’ are key to healthier responsive communities, thriving economies and a restored New Zealand. NPANZ President Deborah Cunliffe is concerned that if policy makers fail to ensure a locally-sourced and sustainable nursing workforce now, not only will the health of our nation suffer but nursing as it has historically been acknowledged in New Zealand will also be lost.’

For many years New Zealand nurses have contended with Care Capacity Demand Management (CCDM), a tool which was meant to address and improve support for nurses’ health and well-being by ensuring safe and healthy working conditions. “We need to acknowledge the failings of CCDM and consider other measures to ensure safe staffing levels, or risk further workplace violence and other hazards that put our nurses at risk ” says Deborah.

“With a chronic shortfall of ~5,000 nurses, if we are going to maintain any kind of nursing workforce then a national strategy to recruit, train and retain Kiwi nurses is well over-due” says Deborah. Like Australia, we should be looking at ways to provide stipends for student nurses plus ensure nurses in aged care and primary health have equal access to fair and decent pay and benefits.

Considering the pressure most of our workforce is currently facing in relation to understaffing, sickness and high patient workloads, Deborah believes that professional and/or clinical supervision should be available to all nurses and not just new graduates or senior nurses. “The nursing workforce is precious, and we need to use every trick in the book to support current nurses or we risk losing them also. We should be proud of the rich heritage represented in our current workforce, but we also need to acknowledge the ongoing troubles that continue to bleed nurses from the workforce such as bullying and poor management.”  

The nursing workforce took a hit during the Covid era as hundreds of now invisible nurses were mandated, resigned or retired. Now is the time to invest in the nursing workforce, not next year or the year after. Failure to do so urgently could be catastrophic. The current shortfall in the nursing workforce means we rely heavily on internationally qualified nurses (IQNs) sadly, these nurses alone are not sufficient to develop and implement a national nursing workforce plan with the objective of self-sufficiency in the supply of future nurses. 

"Nurses provide care and leadership to address global health challenges everywhere, often at great personal risk. They are the essential life force for health, yet our healthcare systems worldwide have fallen short and failed to value, protect, respect and invest in this precious resource. The world has mistakenly taken nurses for granted, treating them as an invisible and inexhaustible resource. That must now stop for the sake of nurses and global health." - International Council of Nurses, 2024.

We must enable New Zealand nurses to work to their full scope of nursing practice, including alternative forms of health. Now is the time to listen to our nurses and invest in advanced nursing practice and nurse-led models of care.

Thanking our Nurses every day

NPANZ acknowledge and thank all Kiwi Nurses and Carers who provide clinical support, professionalism, compassion and care to people when they need it most. Nursing is an incredible profession – an opportunity to make a difference, to support our most vulnerable, to give strength, to be part of new beginnings and to offer dignity at the end of life.

NPANZ is proud to represent nurses via workplace support and in our interactions with policy makers. Whether you’re just after indemnity insurance or need fearless advice and advocacy in your hospital or primary health facility, we are there for you every step of the way and strive to be the most contactable union.

We appreciate and honour each and every one of you – not just on International Day of Nursing, but every day.