1
00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,000
Speaker 1: Nine am, thirty six thousand nurses go on strike. It's

2
00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:06,320
Speaker 1: a twenty four hour strike, pay staffing levels, big sticking

3
00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:09,160
Speaker 1: points and negotiations. Health New Zealand reckons more than four

4
00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:12,120
Speaker 1: and a half thousand plan procedures and specialist appointments will

5
00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:13,080
Speaker 1: have to be postponed.

6
00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:15,920
Speaker 2: We'll be running at a very late level of nursing,

7
00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:18,200
Speaker 2: the sort of cove you'd expect on a bank holiday

8
00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:21,160
Speaker 2: like Christmas Day. So the minimum to provide safe care,

9
00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:22,360
Speaker 2: that's what we aim to do.

10
00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:25,799
Speaker 1: Rob Campbell is the former I don't know what I

11
00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:28,560
Speaker 1: was expecting from the accent, but no, it wasn't that

12
00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:31,080
Speaker 1: Rob Campbell's former Health acent here.

13
00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:34,760
Speaker 2: Hey Rob, good morning Ran Now, don't don't you be

14
00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:36,280
Speaker 2: racist or anything about that?

15
00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:39,320
Speaker 1: No, no, no, it's just a lovely Welsh accenter for

16
00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:43,519
Speaker 1: a Wednesday morning. But probably the tone doesn't match the

17
00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:46,320
Speaker 1: way that nurses are feeling. I would imagine. Can you

18
00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:48,360
Speaker 1: tell me, because I've asked the union and I've asked

19
00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:51,360
Speaker 1: Health New Zealand, do we have a shortage of how

20
00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:54,040
Speaker 1: many nurses are we short in our hospitals right now?

21
00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:57,440
Speaker 2: I can't give you a number, but there's no question

22
00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:01,200
Speaker 2: that there's a shortage on Health New Zealand's own safe

23
00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:04,959
Speaker 2: staffing levels numbers. There are any number of shifts, some

24
00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:08,520
Speaker 2: say up to half which are not properly staffed, so

25
00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:12,000
Speaker 2: there's no question there is a shortage of nurses available

26
00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:16,440
Speaker 2: in our public hospitals. There are nurses available to fill

27
00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:20,440
Speaker 2: those jobs in many cases, but Health News is shall

28
00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:25,120
Speaker 2: we say, quite slow to take up many of those opportunities,

29
00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:28,280
Speaker 2: so they are running with staffing levels below those which

30
00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:31,600
Speaker 2: are ideal, or even ones to which they've previously agreed.

31
00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:33,959
Speaker 1: How much of this do you think can be solved

32
00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:37,560
Speaker 1: by increasing the salaries the wages.

33
00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:41,399
Speaker 2: All of the salaries are important to the people, to

34
00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:44,720
Speaker 2: the men and women involved as nurses, But actually I

35
00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:49,040
Speaker 2: think the bigger issue is one of trust. There's been

36
00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:52,680
Speaker 2: a complete breakdown of trust between nurses and many other

37
00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:56,920
Speaker 2: health professionals and the leadership and political and administrative of

38
00:01:56,960 --> 00:01:59,880
Speaker 2: the health system. And I think that people don't simply

39
00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:04,480
Speaker 2: trust general assurances anymore. They want to see rules which

40
00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:08,560
Speaker 2: are enforceable so that their working conditions are safe and

41
00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:11,400
Speaker 2: capable of being met. So pay is part of it.

42
00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:13,760
Speaker 2: But I don't think simply increasing the payoff or will

43
00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:16,800
Speaker 2: solve the problem. This has to be solved face to

44
00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:19,880
Speaker 2: face with the nurses and the people that they're working for.

45
00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:23,560
Speaker 1: They strike off. I mean, it doesn't matter who's in power,

46
00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:26,000
Speaker 1: they strike You know, what do you say to people

47
00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,600
Speaker 1: who will say, well, you know, you just after more money,

48
00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:30,519
Speaker 1: I'm not getting paid more. I mean one percent is

49
00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:31,520
Speaker 1: better than no percent.

50
00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:34,440
Speaker 2: Well, it looks as if you're on the board of

51
00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:36,040
Speaker 2: Health New Zealand you might be in for a bit

52
00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:39,160
Speaker 2: of an increase from yesterday's announcement by the government. But

53
00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:42,320
Speaker 2: this is not particularly about this current government. There have

54
00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:45,640
Speaker 2: been successive governments that have not been dealing with the

55
00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:49,080
Speaker 2: issue of how the health workforce is properly treated and

56
00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:52,400
Speaker 2: involved in their own workplace. You know, we rely on

57
00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:55,080
Speaker 2: these people, the men and women who are nurses. We

58
00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:57,720
Speaker 2: rely on them when we're at our most vulnerable, and

59
00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:00,480
Speaker 2: it's not reasonable that we take advantage of them in

60
00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:03,639
Speaker 2: the ways that we currently do. So somehow that trust

61
00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:06,120
Speaker 2: has to be re established, and that's going to be

62
00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:08,760
Speaker 2: a process that taps quite some time, in my opinion.

63
00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:12,000
Speaker 2: But some steps have to be made by giving assurances

64
00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,240
Speaker 2: about these safe staffing levels and meeting at least a

65
00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:18,880
Speaker 2: wage increase which covers the red of inflation, appears to

66
00:03:18,919 --> 00:03:21,080
Speaker 2: be the main trust of the nurse's Paedermont.

67
00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:24,320
Speaker 1: Rob appreciate that. This morning, Rob Campbell, former health ends

68
00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:25,200
Speaker 1: in Chia.

69
00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:28,800
Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, Listen live

70
00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:31,920
Speaker 2: to news Talks it'd be from five am weekdays, or

71
00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:33,880
Speaker 2: follow the podcast on iHeartRadio