NZ Government wants to Centralise and Control Our Nurses

The NPANZ notes with concern the recent reports, stating that, effective immediately, all hospital hiring shall be done directly by Te Whatu Ora head office.

Our hospitals are direly understaffed of frontline workers, who are heading off in droves to better-paying jurisdictions, such as Australia. To add layer upon layer of bureaucracy to fix problems in our health system, only adds further delay and stress to the already overworked profession. This will in turn reduce staff retention, and worsen patient outcomes.

Te Whatu Ora chief of people Andrew Slater said the process was "short-term" as part of its efforts to stay within budget to the end of the financial year. If slimming-down needs to occur, Health New Zealand’s big bureaucrats like Mr Slater should be looking amongst their own offices.

The current Health Minister himself has touted the benefits of independently-run District Health Boards (DHBs) when in opposition:

• “Our regions know what works for them when it comes to keeping their communities healthy, and that isn’t always having Wellington dictate terms.
• “National believes whoever has the greatest needs should receive the appropriate resources.”
• “Removing DHBs is similar to when Regional Health Authorities were centralised, it didn’t work then and it won’t work now.”
• “This is just another example of this Government’s centralise and control ideology. We’ve seen it with the restructure of polytechnics, we’re seeing it with the three waters restructure, and now the Government has set its sights on restructuring our health sector.”

We certainly agree, Minister! So why the change of heart? If the New Zealand government wants needs-based management of our health system, why does the Minister Reti want to “centralise and control” as his predecessors did? Why does he think Wellington know what’s best for the rest of New Zealand?

“When competition is non-existent, results are meaningless. And in a caring, frontline profession like nursing, competition has to start in the way we employ our workers”, states NPANZ Secretary Chris Dekker. To make things plain to the Minister, we are not seeking additional nursing staff for the sake of having more nurses. We simply believe that the people on the ground know what is best for them, and that competition between DHBs can only improve outcomes.