Aged-care at ‘crisis point’ as nurses leave

The flow of nurses leaving the aged care sector has gone from a trickle to a torrent, an industry body claims.

In August, nurses working for district health boards (DHBs) voted to accept a new collective agreement with pay rises of at least 9 per cent.

Before it was signed, the body representing aged residential care providers warned registered nurses were already leaving the sector in anticipation of the deal. New Zealand Aged Care Association (NZACA) chief executive Simon Wallace said the situation had since become much worse, and urgent action was required to halt the exodus.

‘‘Whereas we may have been approaching crisis a month ago, we’re now at crisis,’’ he said. ‘‘To stop our nurses leaving to go and work in public hospitals, they need pay parity with nurses in public hospitals, and at the moment the difference is as much as $6 an hour.’’

Feedback to the association included eight out of 10 registered nurses resigning from one facility in a week, and another that was left solely reliant on agency staff, Wallace claimed.

An aged-care nurse, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said she routinely did five hours a week unpaid overtime catching up on paperwork she was too busy to do during her shift.

The woman said if conditions and pay were the same she would choose to work in aged care over a DHB ‘‘any day’’, but claimed the sector was being devalued by pay and staffing levels.

‘‘It’s getting harder and harder to give proper care,’’ she said. ‘‘Somebody might try and stop you to talk, and you don’t have time to stop and hear what they have to say, and that feels awful when you go home.’’ Wallace said aged residential care providers that could afford to pay staff more were doing so, but he claimed many were unable to match DHB pay rates.

He said there was a lack of understanding about the extent the sector was Government-funded, and there needed to be an increase in funding levels for aged care to remain sustainable.

The Government provided $966 million in funding in 2016-17 to assist 26,700 older New Zealanders in care. From July 1 this year, there was a 2 per cent increase in the service level prices DHBs paid to aged care providers.

Ministry of Health health workforce NZ group manager Claire Austin said when the offer was made, DHBs acknowledged that if the nursing settlement was significantly more than 2 per cent they would enter into discussions about how potential flow-on pressure could be addressed.

‘‘DHBs say they understand this commitment stands and the parties are preparing to engage shortly on those discussions,’’ she said.

A review was also being carried out on the funding model for aged residential care providers.

Wallace said a short-term solution to the staffing situation was to make it easier for providers to hire migrant workers by placing aged care registered nurses back on the Long Term Skill Shortage List. It was removed in 2016.

The list, which allows visa holders to apply for residency after two years if they met certain conditions, is updated every six months. Immigration New Zealand is currently processing nominations for a 2018 review.

New Zealand Nurses Organisation aged care industrial advisor David Wait agreed there was a shortage of registered nurses, but said it had long been a problem. ‘‘Traditionally about one third of nurses leave their aged care employer every year.’’

The most recent survey of NZACA members showed the turnover rate had increased to 38 per cent. Wait blamed poor funding levels for nurses leaving the sector, and said the union agreed more was needed.

New Zealand’s nursing work force already had a significant proportion of internationally-qualified nurses and, while Wait said they were important, he felt increased migration was not the answer to staffing issues in the aged care sector.

‘‘What we need to do is attract nurses and keep them.’’