NETP | NZNO's Blog

April 29, 2014
by NZNO 7 Comments

The personal cost of government failings

A new grad nurse talks about what it’s really like to be failed by the system. After not receiving a NETP position after graduating this new grad did volunteer work to keep up her skills. Recently she got a part time position as an “emergency response attendant” at a retirement village.

I am happy to share my story. What I want most out of this is for other people to feel brave enough to speak out. And for the government to come to the party and provide new grad nurses with the job opportunities and Nursing Entry to Practice (NETP) positions that they require.

I suppose my biggest gripe is that I was never ever told throughout my degree that there were limited NETP positions and so, along with my friends, I had the attitude that I would get a NETP position.

The last year of my degree was tailored around paediatrics, where I was totally in my element, working in the area I am so passionate about and the reason I chose nursing as my career.

I am well aware that New Zealand has an experienced nursing shortage… but I feel that the answer to that is to support those new grads who trained in NZ to get NETP positions and then there will be more experienced nurses.

I am no politician, but I’m sure there are better solutions to this situation.

I feel pretty devastated to hear about NZ saying we are short on nurses when there are hundreds just like me.

I know I am lucky to have the job at the retirement village after months of unemployment but I also know it’s not what I trained to do.

I have dreams of working as a registered nurse with children and their families with full support from other nurses and clinical preceptors.

New grads like me are being forced into unsuitable jobs and, although we apparently have a nursing shortage, at each of the six extra interviews I had after my ACE interviews in November, I was unsuccessful due to more experienced nurses applying for the same position.

So while I reapply for ACE and hope and pray that I am successful, I will keep trying to find answers to a situation I now do not understand at all. There really isn’t much to say about it except that it’s unfair on so many levels.

I just hope through my voice I can help other new grads and nursing students because I would never wish for anyone else to experience the amount of disappointment I have in the last six months.

April 15, 2014
by NZNO 22 Comments

It’s not a skill shortage, it’s a planning deficiency

The Immigration Department’s “Skill-shortage list” is a list of occupations that are in short supply in New Zealand. The list means that would-be migrants with those particular skills are given preference over migrants whose skills are not on the list. It seems like a great idea and a good way to ensure that New Zealand’s skills needs are met.

Unfortunately, it is sometimes used for the benefit of employers, not the NZ workforce as a whole.

NZNO is constantly responding to consultation requests from Immigration NZ as DHBs and other health providers, especially within the aged care sector, push for nursing and health care assistant roles to be added to the skills shortage list.

Recently, Hawkes Bay DHB, Southern DHB and Capital and Coast DHB have all applied to have registered nurse and midwife positions added to the skills shortage list, and to renew their accredited employer status so they can fast track offshore recruitment of nurses and midwives.

We absolutely reject that the DHBs need to recruit nurses and midwives offshore while there are large numbers of nursing and midwifery graduates still seeking employment.

As a country we need to start addressing the root causes of recruitment and retention difficulties and plan for a sustainable, home grown workforce.

It is not fair that we continue to educate and train nurses and then deny them employment while continuing to recruit offshore. Only 61 percent of last year’s nursing graduates have found placements in nurse entry to practice positions and only half of the country’s DHBs are offering placements in the second advanced choice of employment (ACE) round.

Overseas recruitment processes are long and expensive and often include a six week competence assessment programme. Surely, that time and money would be better spent on supporting new graduates into practice, and facilitating internal appointments with training and education that supports expanded practice and rewarding career pathways for nurses and midwives.

NZNO recognises that demand for nurses is increasing, as New Zealand’s population and the nursing workforce ages, but recruiting from overseas to fill workforce gaps is not the answer.

January 23, 2014
by NZNO 2 Comments

New grads – we’ve got your back!

There has been a lot of media lately about the situation new graduate nurses are finding themselves in after graduation. Many struggle to get nurse entry to practice (NETP) places, a scheme whereby newly graduated nurses are supported and mentored for their first months in the workforce, and those who are not successful in getting a place on such a programme also struggle to find a nursing role because employers want experience.

There is commentary from various quarters that we should train fewer nurses but we have a looming nursing workforce crisis as many of the current workforce move toward retirement. We need to educate and prepare the replacement workforce now, and we also need to plan for how we will employ and support them so that they are ready to replace today’s experienced and skilled workforce.

It is Health Workforce New Zealand’s (HWNZ) job to make sure supply meets demand in the health sector. So, what are they doing about preparing such a plan? Precious little to date.

The result is that newly graduated nurses are paying the price, with massive student loans and limited chances of employment. We estimate that around 500 nurses each year are not able to find NETP places. Some will find employment in various parts of the sector but many find employment outside the sector; in retail for example, just to pay the bills. A number will inevitably take their talents overseas. The numbers are terrible, and the impacts on families and communities will be felt across the country (and economy).

Students and new graduates are contacting us daily with sad stories of how their dreams of a nursing career are fading. And like Michelle Duff’s article says, these nurses should be in “hot demand”!

It’s a disaster for individuals and the health system too. We want to see some change.

NZNO wants to see 100 percent employment for every single nurse graduate who wants a position in the New Zealand health sector.

We want our new graduates to be well supported in practice and to have sound preceptorship / mentorship. New Zealand is going to be around 15 000 nurses short by 2035, so we’re going to need them.

We want them to have NETP placements that are meaningful and that provide an opportunity to grow their clinical experience and clinical practice in a supportive environment.

We want a confident, experienced, highly skilled nursing workforce. New Zealand deserves it.

Fortunately, NZNO is a large organisation; 46 000 members have a lot of clout, and we are using it to get a great result for our student members, now and in the future.

We have raised the issue along with the National Nursing Organisation group at the Health Workforce NZ meeting on November 28^th last year and it was prioritised by that group as an issue for urgent attention.

We are raising the issue in the media whenever we can. Public pressure, alongside private pressure on Health Workforce NZ is surprisingly effective. The Minster of Health will not want the issue to remain unresolved during an election year.

We raised it with the Minister late last year in a meeting and agreed that a solution needed to be found.

NZNO has a clear ask of HWNZ – step up and work with the DHBs and the rest of the health sector to develop a robust and sustainable workforce plan for nursing.