Primary care nurses must be paid the same as hospital nurses to fix the chronic staff shortages causing New Zealanders to be turned away from GP clinics, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) says.

A Victoria University of Wellington study has found 36% of New Zealand’s general practices didn’t take new enrolments in 2024, with workforce shortages cited as the major reason people were being turned away.

NZNO’s New Zealand College of Primary Health Care Nurses chair Tracey Morgan says the Coalition Government’s focus on the health sector is misdirected.

"While the Government is focused on the five health targets, they are ignoring the most pressing issue - chronic staff shortages in primary care.

"When people can’t get into their GP, they can end up at hospital even sicker. This puts more pressure on our already stretched hospitals and the Government’s own targets will be harder to meet," Tracey Morgan says.

Primary care nurses are leaving GP clinics to work in hospitals because they get paid 18% more despite having the same skills and qualifications, she says.

"It is time for the Government to pay primary care nurses the same as their hospital counterparts and introduce a sustainable funding model for the primary care sector.

"Until this is done, it is everyday New Zealanders who are trying to see a doctor when they are sick who will pay the price.

"New Health Minister Simeon Brown has said he is ‘an advocate for everyday Kiwis who simply want timely, quality healthcare when they need it’. Here is his solution," Tracey Morgan says.