Source: New Zealand Nurses Organisation
About 80% of nurses working in primary health care have considered leaving their jobs in the past six months a survey by Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO has found.
NZNO recently conducted a survey of its members working in primary health care (see findings below). Of those, 30% said they frequently thought about leaving the sector, 31% had occasionally thought about leaving and 19% said they had thought about leaving once or twice.
NZNO primary health care spokesperson Tracey Morgan says it’s not surprising 80% of respondents have thought about leaving the sector when 78% say their workload has increased in the past few years.
“Primary health care in Aotearoa New Zealand is in crisis. Patients and whānau are often unable to get in to see their doctor or nurse for several weeks, leaving them sicker by the time they can get the health care they need.
“One of the main drivers of this crisis is chronic staff shortages. Nurses are leaving general practices to work in hospitals, where they earn up to 11% more (see table below), or for Australia where they are paid significantly more. Our survey found 42% had thought about going overseas.
“Our communities deserve accessible care, and our nurses deserve fair pay,” she says.
“Primary care nurses had been hoping a Pay Equity settlement would correct the undervaluation of their work, but the Coalition Government decision to scrap the legislation means their wages will stay lower for longer.”
There’s now agreement from both the Coalition Government and the Opposition that the primary health care funding model is broken, Tracey Morgan says.
“NZNO welcomes the focus on primary health care but there must be a bipartisan commitment and approach to creating a sustainable new funding model. That funding model must ensure that primary care nurses are paid the same as their Te Whatu Ora counterparts. Only then will they stop leaving primary health care,” Tracey Morgan says.
