Source: Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO)
Recognition of the need to fix the crisis in primary health care is good for patients but stops short of a much-needed overhaul of the sector, NZNO says.
The Labour Party today announced it would help take the pressure off overcrowded emergency departments (EDs) by hiring more nurses, making it easier to see a GP and getting patients into hospital beds faster.
Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO President Anne Daniels says NZNO welcomes the joined-up plan.
“Identifying hospital beds which can be opened up immediately if they are staffed by nurses will help reduce the pressure on EDs by improving patient flow. It will reduce the bed block that stops patients being transferred to wards. Increasing preventative health care by improving access to primary care will also reduce the pressure on EDs.
“Labour’s plan to boost the number of nurses working in the community to support older people when they are discharged from hospital will also reduce pressure on ward beds and improve patient flow,” she says.
Anne Daniels says to support its proposed Family Doctor Loan Scheme to help the establishment of new community practices, Labour – and other political parties – also need to increase the number of nurse practitioners and nurse prescribers in the community.
“With one-in-three GP practices now under corporate overseas ownership, it’s time to consider the need for public ownership of primary care services. This will reduce the time pressures on GPs and nurse practitioners created by running a business while caring for patients.
“If we are to fix health care in Aotearoa New Zealand there needs to be comprehensive workforce planning across the public, primary, Māori and iwi health care providers and aged care sectors with NZNO at the table.
“NZNO calls on the next government, whatever it’s make up, to make these desperately needed changes to our health sector,” Anne Daniels says.