Ashley Bloomfield thanks nurses and midwives for calling off strike action.
It was a belated shoutout.
At the end of his scripted comment at Wednesday’s 1pm briefing in Wellington, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield thanked NZ Nurses Organisation and midwifery union MERAS for quickly withdrawing strike action that was meant to take place Thursday.
“Over the last 18 months, both nurses and midwives have been instrumental in our overall response, and nurses are often the first port of call for anyone accessing health services.
“I want to thank both professions for the hard work they have put in, and [they] will continue to support the efforts, I know, over coming days.”
While well-meaning, and coming from the very top, the thanks may fall flat.
“We were preparing for a strike and now we’re preparing to take action against Covid.” – Kerri Nuku
NZ Nurses Organisation, which represents about 30,000 nurses, voted to strike on July 29, August 19, and September 9 if agreement couldn’t be reached on pay increases, and concerns about under-staffing.
There was a feeling they stepped up, and their jobs were even harder now than they were 18 months ago. And now, while putting the health and safety of others first by cancelling strike action, they want to ensure, as they once again stand on health’s frontline, their voices are still being heard.
“Nurses throughout the country, particularly in Auckland, are feeling tired, anxious to some degree, because we were preparing for a strike and now we’re preparing to take action against Covid,” says Kerri Nuku, of NZNO.
There is a sense of anxiety and frustration, she says, as they once again fill the rosters they’d voted to stay off. Today, they were meant to be striking on issues such as ensuring nurses are safe at work.
“Today we’re having to rely on the fact that the systems and processes and policies that are in place at the moment with DHBs are going to be adequate enough to keep us safe. But they largely haven’t been addressed.
“We’ve still got issues where nurses are feeling that they’re understaffed, we’ve still got to rely on the fact that we’ve got access to adequate PPE gear, that there’s not going to be a resourcing problem.”
Case works at hospital
Nurses have been front and centre in this Delta variant outbreak for another reason. Of the new cases announced Wednesday, in the wake of a midnight, Level 4 lockdown, one was a health professional, widely reported to be a nurse, who worked at Auckland City Hospital.
Bloomfield said the 21-year-old female worked four shifts while being potentially infectious, unknowingly. The hospital moved swiftly to restrict visitors, reach potential contacts – including telling colleagues working the same shifts to isolate at home – and undertake testing.
Newsroom asked a series of questions of Auckland’s DHB. Some were as simple as the health professional’s role, and which part of the hospital they worked in. We also asked how many staff were isolating, and what that meant for patient care.
The DHB issued a blanket statement which addressed almost none of them. However, the statement, from Dr Mike Shepherd, director of provider services, did cover personal protection equipment (PPE).
“We’re confident in the national PPE supply levels,” Shepherd said. “Our PPE is sourced directly from the Ministry of Health which has sufficient supplies to respond to the current outbreak. We’re communicating regularly with them about PPE levels and distribution and are also able to procure PPE stock separately, if needed.”
Bloomfield answers questions
Media at Wednesday's briefing asked Bloomfield why some visitors who scanned into the hospital’s ward 65 yesterday hadn’t been contacted by health authorities.
“I can’t answer that question. But rest assured that the DHB started last night, initially, with staff, of course, and started testing quite widely.”
The DHB’s anonymised statement, released yesterday morning, said there are visitor restrictions at Auckland City Hospital, Starship and Greenlane Clinical Centre.
“We immediately activated our plans to prevent the spread of the virus within the hospital,” the statement says. “We’ve stopped unnecessary movements between wards, and we’re testing all staff and patients on the ward the staff member worked on.
“We’re also standing down, testing and isolating staff on the same ward. We’re providing support to any staff members who need it.”
