Photo: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
Memos sent to staff at Waikato and Christchurch hospitals have reminded nurses to only speak English in a clinical setting.
Meanwhile, at Palmerston North Hospital, Indian nurses were specifically singled out and told they had to stop speaking Malayalam in public spaces.
It's sparked calls of racism and discrimination and a call for an apology from healthcare unions.
The Health Minister Shane Reti said that while English was the base language at Health NZ, there had been no directive from the government.
Health NZ later clarified and put out another memo saying where it was clinically safe and appropriate for patients and working in teams, staff should exercise their professional judgement on what language to use.
Professor Ineke Crezee from the Auckland University of Technology has been working in the field of healthcare translating for decades and tells Susie she's astounded by the memos.
