Today the New Zealand Nurses Organisation is launching a petition aimed at achieving a nurse entry to practice (NEtP) position for every new grad nurse.

New Zealand is facing a significant nursing shortage over the next decade. We need to begin growing a sustainable, home-grown and highly skilled nursing workforce if we are to maintain the high quality of nursing care we all deserve. We’re educating some of the nurses needed to fill that gap and we need to support them to gain experience and stay in New Zealand.

The nurse entry to practice programme is a structured support programme for newly graduated nurses. The programme provides each new graduate nurse with support and mentoring in their first year of practice.

The Minister of Health, Tony Ryall needs to fund a one year nurse entry to practice programme for 100% of new graduate nurses, now – it’s the only way to get the nursing workforce we want in years to come.

New Zealand is educating  nurses and then leaving large numbers of new graduates unable to find work in a clinical setting due to limited places on NEtP programmes and/or employers requiring them to “have experience” before they will employ them. In the latest ACE round 233 of the 645 applicants have jobs. That leaves 412 new graduate nurses without jobs. The risk is that some of these nurses will gain employment in unsupported environments where there are insufficient RNs to provide mentorship. And, sadly, some won’t get a nursing job at all. This is not just about employment it is about employment in a NEtP programme.

The issue of employment in the health sector for new graduate RNs and ENs needs urgent attention. NZNO supports the national nursing organisation’s (NNO) vision for “100% graduate employment by 2018 at the latest”. (Report from the National Nursing Organisations to Health Workforce New Zealand, 2014).

Many new graduates approach NZNO seeking assistance with finding a NEtP position.

We’re asking Tony Ryall to come up with the funding.

And we’re asking you to sign and share the petition with your family and friends.

NZNO has 46,000 members and we’re hoping that every NZNO member and their family, whānau and friends will get behind this campaign!

Ma whero ma pango ka oti ai te mahi
If we all do our part we will reach our goal

You can find out more about the New Zealand Nurses Organisation campaign to support our new grads here: www.nzno.org.nz/newgrads