Latest News
Exhausted Gisborne nurses in fear of making a fatal mistake, Employment Court hears
Exhausted nurses are working while sick and injured, missing meal breaks, and live with the constant fear of making a fatal mistake, while some of their patients wait days to have their catheters changed.
That is the daily reality inside Gisborne Hospital’s acute care unit, according to nurses’ evidence read out in the Employment Court on Monday.
However, health bosses say their plans for a one-hour strike on Wednesday is unlawful and they have asked the judge for an injunction.
Te Whatu Ora lawyer Susan Hornsby-Geluk said the union could not argue the action was about health and safety because there was no immediate threat in this case, as required by the law.
“It must be established that the risk to health and safety would be eliminated or lessened by the strike action, or alternatively safety or health would be enhanced.
“In other words, there has to be a nexus between the risk and the action being taken.”
Health and safety could not weaponised to simply put pressure on an employer, Hornsby-Geluk said.
“The focus is on safeguarding health and safety, not on putting pressure on an employer to succumb to particular industrial demands.”
Te Whatu Ora’s lawyer Susan Hornsby-Geluk – pictured here with colleague Megan Vant – argued the nurses’ strike was unlawful because there was no immediate threat to their health or safety. Photo: RNZ / Ruth Hill
Te Whatu Ora accepted the ward was understaffed and was rostering on locums and working to recruit more nurses, she said.
“But it does not accept that workers are in unsafe or unhealthy working conditions.”
Judge Kerry Smith, speaking via videolink from Christchurch, noted it appeared nothing had changed since Te Whatu Ora accepted the provisional improvement notice (a written notice requiring legal action on a health and safety problem) in November.
“As I understand the state of the evidence, it’s now late May and there’s been no completion of that review, despite the five or six months that have gone by, and no change to the number of beds or the pressure on the nursing staff in that time. It’s just been status quo, hasn’t it?”
Hornsby-Geluk responded that the hospital had accepted most of the union’s demands and was working towards them.
But it was not in a position to simply drop bed numbers from 25 to 20 in the ward as the Nurses Organisation wanted.
“It’s not in a position to turn patients away or turn them out.”
WorkSafe was currently investigating that particular sticking point, but the timeline for that was out of management’s hands.
Her colleague, Megan Vant, said arrangements to provide life-preserving services during the strike were not enough to protect patients and staff.
“If the strike goes ahead, there is the potential for serious and irreversible harm to the applicant’s staff, patients, their families and communities.”
Union lawyer Peter Cranney told the court nurses in the under-staffed unit feared someone would die in their care. Photo: RNZ / Ruth Hill
Union lawyer Peter Cranney said, however, the ward was often reduced to life-preserving services anyway due to chronic understaffing.
“Care rationing was occurring, care and assessments were unduly delayed, there were insufficient essential equipment and supplies, patient dignity was compromised, that is personal care and hygiene was not attended to in a timely manner, workers were unable to take meal breaks.”
He read from several affidavits from nurses, some with decades of experience, talking about their fear that someone will die in their care, that they were physically and mentally exhausted.
Judge Smith asked how staff could claim their workplace was so unsafe they had to walk off the job, when they were prepared to return to the same conditions an hour later.
“The answer is that these nurses have shown a willingness to continue to work in dangerous and difficult and stressful conditions, because they care for the patients,” Cranney replied.
Judge Smith reserved his decision but indicated he was likely to make a judgement on Tuesday, the day before the strike is due to go ahead.
VIA RNZ
The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
rnz
Police say person who fired gun at officers still at large
New Zealand sides named for RLWC finals
Parliamentary Service working on extra chairs and offices for increased number of MPs
-
Latest News2 months ago‘Chilling’: Business groups speak out against National’s supermarket break-up plan
-
NZ News2 months agoTom Phillips report: The missed opportunities to find the children
-
Latest News2 months agoCars bearing Chinese police markings stir unease in Auckland
-
Politics2 months agoNational vows to try to split Pak’nSave and New World
-
Fiji News2 months agoPlans to have new Constitution by Dec 24th 2026
-
Politics2 months agoMBIE confirms botched biometric projects costs blown out to $50.7 million
-
NZ News2 months agoCop who stole $68,000 can now be named as champion Muay Thai fighter Haimona Tamati-Te Paki
-
Latest News2 months agoFive Karangahape Road venues lose their liquor licences after police intervention