Summarised by Centrist
A leaked Health NZ strategy paper reveals plans to reduce graduate nurses’ working hours and slash clinical training, prompting warnings from the nurses’ union that the agency is “gaming” the numbers to give the illusion of progress while undermining care standards and pushing new nurses abroad.
Minimum working hours for new nurses are being cut from 0.8 to 0.6 full-time equivalent (FTE), meaning three days a week now qualifies as a “full-time” graduate role.
New Zealand Nurses Organisation president Anne Daniels said the strategy allows Health NZ to claim more hires without solving the core issue of understaffing.
“If you have budgeted FTE for 10 nurses, and you hire them all at 0.6, you can get lots more nurses for the same money. But that doesn’t do anything for the overworking or the huge workloads… It’s gaming.”
The leaked report also confirms a two-thirds reduction in clinical training time. Hours of “clinical load sharing” will drop from 240 to 80, meaning new graduates will be on the job much faster.
Mandatory study hours will also fall, from 96 to 80.
Nurses Organisation student rep Bianca Grimmer said she expects more graduates to leave for Australia, where the pay is higher and support systems stronger. “It’s already looking pretty scarce for job opportunities, and now they’re cutting FTE back to 0.6, which is barely anything.”
Image: Mr. W. Cleal
