Source: Radio New Zealand
Unsplash / RNZ
Painfully slow recruitment processes within public hospitals are masking the true scale of the dire workforce shortages in the health system, frontline workers warn.
PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Health NZ data, obtained by the PSA under the Official Information Act, showed it was taking up to 30 weeks for Health NZ to even approve recruitment to begin for frontline vacancies at hospitals in the Wellington region, including for doctors, nurses, technicians and support staff.
PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said this meant that staffing levels were unsafe for patients.
“These figures show there is a recruitment freeze and it is being done to save money. It would be understandable if recruitment was delayed due to lack of applicants, but these figures show that vacancies are not even being approved to be filled when vacancies arise.
“There should be no barriers to filling vacancies. They should be advertised automatically and filled.”
A specialist at Wellington Hospital, whom RNZ has agreed not to name, said his own service had several vacant positions currently – but it really needed at least double the number being advertised.
“We know that there are many departments saying they’re short-staffed – but the reality is it’s not quantified.
“What we have is the ‘funded’ vacancies, but there is a much larger number of unfunded vacancies.
“Even when it is a funded position, when people leave it can take much longer to advertise that vacancy if the speciality is not top of the priority list.”
No-one in a local management role seemed to have any power to work out how many staff each department needed – nor the authority to find the funding, he said.
That meant clinicians were having to develop their own “business cases” and lobby for vacancies to get approved.
Wellington Hospital. RNZ / REECE BAKER
Health NZ says recruitment ‘timed carefully’
Health NZ executive regional director for central Chris Lowry said hospitals continued to “actively recruit to vacancies”.
“In an organisation of this size it is normal to have a significant number of vacancies at any given time, and we work continuously to ensure our services are safely and appropriately staffed.”
There were a number of reasons why recruitment might be “timed carefully”, she said.
“This can include accommodating new graduate intakes, pausing to avoid repeated unsuccessful recruitment rounds, temporary staffing arrangements that meet short-term needs, or aligning with organisational change processes. We also manage recruitment volumes to ensure our teams can progress roles efficiently.
“We do not always immediately go out for recruitment to some roles, but this does not mean there are no other arrangements in place to fill gaps in the short term.”
These could include fixed term or contractor appointments, extension of hours for part time staff, and “movement of resources internally to ensure the workload is well managed”.
Health workers say ‘go-slow’ deliberate
In his letter of expectation to Health NZ, Health Minister Simeon Brown has said he wants to see the removal of red tape and faster recruitment for frontline clinical roles.
However, health workers said the recruitment go-slow appeared to be core policy.
Whangārei Hospital emergency nurse Rachel Thorn, a Nurses Organisation delegate, said budget restrictions meant services within a region were having to compete with others for the limited number of new recruits allowed.
“It’s still ‘business case by business case’, and often they’re not even approving to recruit when people leave. They’re seconding people into senior positions, but not backfilling them.”
A front-line worker in a large Auckland hospital – who asked to remain anonymous – said following a directive last year, permission to recruit needed to be “escalated” through several levels of management.
“These were existing roles people had left, not new positions. Some were running or scheduling vital life-saving services. In my opinion, it puts services at risk and puts current staff and managers under immense pressure.
“At one point they couldn’t even recruit bureau staff, who cover for short staffing or staff who are sick or on leave.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
