Statement attributable to Nadine Gray, Health New Zealand National Chief Nurse

The safety of staff and patients is a priority for Health New Zealand at all times and especially during the planned nationwide strike action by New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) members on 2 & 4 September.

Given this we have made the decision to delay the start date for over 300 graduate nurses who were due to begin work and initial training on Monday 1 September.

We understand many of our graduate nurses will be disappointed with the delay. However, we have to put patient safety, staff safety, and the safety of our graduate nurses first as they transition into the workforce.

The planned NZNO strike action on 2 & 4 September means our hospitals will be disrupted for the entire week.

During a full-withdrawal strike activity, all training ceases in our hospitals as all available staff, including those providing training to our graduate nurses, are either striking or working.

I want to reassure our graduate nurses that they will still be paid for the week, and we look forward to welcoming them for their first day on Monday 8 September.

The ongoing strike action by NZNO is impacting our graduate nurses and patients.

The planned strike, should it go ahead, would result in the postponement of an estimated 2,251 planned procedures, 3,600 first specialist appointments and 8,000 follow-up appointments.

Postponed surgeries and first specialist appointments result in our waitlists growing longer and increased patient safety concerns, as people have to wait longer for the care they need.

Health NZ is committed to safe staffing, and we are committed to working with nursing unions on our approach to ensure improvements in our safe staffing work and that we have a good working environment for our nurses, healthcare assistants, and midwives.

For us safe staffing in a busy hospital environment includes the skill mix of the staff, the way care is provided, strong clinical judgement, flexibility, and thoughtful decision making from our experienced leaders on the frontline.

We believe the offer we have made to the union is a fair one and better than many other offers being made in the public sector.

We are focused on reaching a settlement with the NZNO and believe outstanding issues need to be resolved through further bargaining, not more strike action.