Photo: 123rf.com
Graduates who have missed out on nursing jobs are now looking at heading overseas even though that's not what they want, a union member says.
She is in a group representing nursing students who say health agency Te Whatu Ora has failed in its most basic duty to plan for the future nursing workforce.
It comes after Te Whatu Ora offered just 844 of 1619 graduate nurses jobs on Wednesday, which is only 50 percent of the cohort.
Student nurse and NZ Nurses Organisation student unit co-chair Bianca Anderson told Morning Report it was hard to comprehend.
"It's three years of hard work and hard clinical placements and then no job at the end of it so everyone's devastated and wondering what comes next."
She said there was understaffing in some areas which student nurses had observed during their placements.
"There's definitely a need for nurses and I've had patients say to me how essential we are and how much they value us.
"I think it's just due to the government's cost cutting."
Anderson said those who had been unsuccessful in securing jobs were now looking at heading overseas, even though many did not want to.
They chose nursing so they could serve their local communities, and it was especially tough for Māori and Pasifika nurses.
"Going overseas is a big life change for some people, especially for students who have families. It's not looking great 'cos otherwise you can't get a job as a nurse so you're stuck."
Nurses studied fulltime and had to squeeze in part-time jobs to support themselves, Anderson said.
For students like her contemplating finding jobs in a year's time there was now a lot of uncertainty and she had heard of some who were considering dropping out.
Her message to Te Whatu Ora was to consider both the graduates and the patients.
"Working hard to try and provide for our communities - at the end of it if we don't get a job it's utterly devastating and puts people off going into nursing which is a highly essential part of the healthcare system."
Aged care jobs among options - national chief nurse
National chief nurse for Health NZ Nadine Gray said "homegrown nurses" were a vital part of the health system.
Other health providers would have the opportunity from today to offer jobs to the remaining 770 "left in the talent pool", she told Morning Report.
Incentives of up to $20,000 were being offered to primary, community and aged care to hire more graduate nurses.
Gray said for many nurses their preference was to work in a hospital rather than in aged care but Health NZ wanted them to consider working in all parts of the health system.
Those not offered jobs yesterday would not necessarily head to Australia, because in its cities there were no longer many vacancies due to a flood of nurses arriving from all over the world in recent times, Gray said.
Asked if there had been a failure in planning, she replied it had been "an extraordinary year" with thousands of foreign nurses arriving in Aotearoa in the wake of the pandemic.
Immigration settings had been changed to allow this, however, there was also constant turnover in the health system and she was confident the graduate nurses would find work.
"We're supporting nurses, we're committed to that over the coming months to get them into jobs, not just in hospitals and specialist services but right across the health system."
Around 3000 nurses were hired last year meaning Health NZ now employed 35,000.
"We've got the lowest turnover we've had in a very long time."
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
