Health Minister Dr Shane Reti’s sacking of the ‘remaining’ Health New Zealand (Health NZ) board, and subsequent appointment of Lester Levy as Commissioner has raised concerns generally across New Zealand.
Considering however, that Boards are only as good as their CEO and senior advisers, have the right people been sacked?
The Nurses Professional Association of New Zealand (NPANZ) is concerned about the lack of transparency relating to the $1.4 billion deficit and $130m monthly overspend and has repeatedly cited concerns about the ‘burgeoning bureaucracy’, inherent within Health NZ. NPANZ President Deborah Cunliffe is concerned that sacking the Board not only gives Health NZ an opportunity to delay projects relating to training, recruitment and retention of staff, but also pushes back plans for holiday pay remediation where over $2.1 billion is historically owed to staff, mostly nurses, many of whom face daily challenges to meet cost of living rises.
The NPANZ President and retired Clinical Nurse Specialist recently spoke on RCR radio about the need to manage ineffective corporate roles and direct funding to frontline clinical staff, specifically Primary Health Care.
According to the latest report from Health NZ, The Health Workforce Information Programme (Jan - March 2024) New Zealand currently has one corporate role for every 2.08 nurses. France currently carries one corporate role per ten nurses. This information is vital when considering what has gone wrong over successive governments, says Deborah Cunliffe, especially also considering the impact of centralisation on the health of our nation in general. Clearly, we need to reduce unnecessary corporate roles in middle management, adequately fund Primary Health Care, including pay equity for nurses and ultimately bring ‘care closer to home.’
NZ Unions and NPANZ questions whether or not the right people have been sacked. In the meantime, the NPANZ hotline is available for nurses or hospital employees who feel vulnerable due to the ongoing mismanagement of our national treasure.
