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Speaker 1: We find the nurses are back on strike again today

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Speaker 1: About thirty six thousand nurses midwife's healthcare assistance are out

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Speaker 1: this time. They're arguing patient safety, apparently, Health New Zealand

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Speaker 1: Deputy Chief Executive for the Northern Region Mark Shepherd with us, good.

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Speaker 2: Morning, Good morning, Mike. I thanks for having it not at.

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Speaker 1: All, so another day another strike. Seems like a beleagued,

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Speaker 1: unhappy sort of place, is it.

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Speaker 2: I wouldn't say that is the beginning of a bargaining

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Speaker 2: process with the New Zealand Nurse Association and we're a

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Speaker 2: little disappointed the strike has happened so soon, but we're

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Speaker 2: fully prepared in our hospitals to meet the challenges.

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Speaker 1: How far through the process are you?

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Speaker 2: It's only relatively early bargaining. How he started over a

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Speaker 2: month ago. We do have some date set in early

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Speaker 2: New year to continue the discussions and I think that's

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Speaker 2: an important part of understanding issues for nurses and being

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Speaker 2: able to move forward together.

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Speaker 1: They're arguing patient safety. Is it about patient safety or

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Speaker 1: is it about money?

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Speaker 2: I saw as it's a balance of both, and you'd

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Speaker 2: have to ask us them they're view on patient safety.

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Speaker 2: We believe we've got a safe organization has continued to

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Speaker 2: work with the unions. There's more nurses on the floor

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Speaker 2: in this Zealent hospitals than ever before. Have thirty five

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Speaker 2: thousand nurses just in the last twelve months, an additional

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Speaker 2: three eight hundred nurses on the floor out there caring

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Speaker 2: for patients in our community. So we believe we've done

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Speaker 2: a lot to respond to patient safety discussion.

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Speaker 1: That's the forgotten part of the story. I think people

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Speaker 1: are confused, aren't they, Because I mean, all the headlines

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Speaker 1: are about the people who can't get work and the

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Speaker 1: hiring freeze and all that sort of stuff. The simple

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Speaker 1: fact of the matter is there's a mismatch going on.

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Speaker 1: Correct me if I'm wrong, But there are job openings

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Speaker 1: in certain areas of the health sector not in others.

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Speaker 1: You have put more people, as you say, on the floor,

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Speaker 1: and therefore you are growing the workforce. Is all of

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Speaker 1: that correct?

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Speaker 2: That is absolutely correct, and that's ongoing. Only in the

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Speaker 2: last as the commissioner. Commissioner announced an additional fifty senior

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Speaker 2: medical stuff and also additional tanbergion dollar targeted fund for

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Speaker 2: specific nursing roles for specific areas. But those sorts of

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Speaker 2: things are ongoing.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so on going on strike between eleven and seven,

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Speaker 1: I mean, there's no answer to this. But when you

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Speaker 1: go on strike between eleven and seven, what does that achieve?

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Speaker 1: I mean, what changes here?

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Speaker 2: I suppose really with New Dancer Union, what they think

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Speaker 2: they're below they achieve. I mean, I suppose it's making

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Speaker 2: a statement and during attention to the issue that there

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Speaker 2: there's some strength of an united sort of front with

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Speaker 2: the nurses around wanting a fair pace. That's my assumptions.

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Speaker 2: At the end of the day, what's really important is

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Speaker 2: anybody staying in hospital during the strike will receive the

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Speaker 2: care and support they need. You have well developed plans

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Speaker 2: right across the system to ensure that healthcare delivery continues.

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Speaker 2: We have pared back some of our non urgent care

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Speaker 2: things are pain care like might be appointment or non

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Speaker 2: urgent surgeries, and we will look to reschedule those surgeries

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Speaker 2: or treatments as soon as possible. Anything that is time

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Speaker 2: critical will continue, and all emergency departments and kids services

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Speaker 2: remain open in.

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Speaker 1: Functions all right, Mike, appreciate it. Mike Shepard out of

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