Te Whatu Ora has utterly failed graduate nurses by employing just over a half of this year’s cohort, says NZNO National Student Unit co-chair Bianca Anderson.
New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) has more than 5000 nursing student members throughout Aotearoa.
"It is devastating for nurse graduates to learn today that only half of their cohort have got jobs after three years of hard study and clinical placements," Bianca Anderson says.
"Te Whatu Ora has failed in its most basic duty - to plan the future nursing workforce. The first year of employment is critical for nurses entering the health workforce.
"Te Whatu Ora’s decision to hire just 844 of 1619 applicants (52%) will mean some graduates are forced to find other work and will never go on to nurse. Others will be packing their bags for Australia."
Bianca Anderson says two years ago, Te Whatu Ora was hiring 100% of graduate nurses.
"These graduates studied nursing because New Zealand was crying out for nurses during the pandemic.
"For decades New Zealand has failed to train enough local nurses and relied on having to import internationally qualified nurses.
"There are only fewer vacancies for graduates this year because of Government cost cutting, not because there is less need for nurses in our hospitals.
"Nursing students train to work in the health sector because they care about people and it is patients who will be affected by these cutbacks on graduates," Bianca Anderson says.