Nurses Society of New Zealand

21/09/2025

Extra funding is needed for health services not just moving funds from one part of the health service to another.

The $100 million 'announced' yesterday for planned maintenance and upgrades, and the $20 million for EDs is existing funding. None of this is extra funding - all of this of this funding was already announced in the last budget.

An emergency doctor is concerned the $20 million funding injection could mean cuts to other areas of Health New Zealand.

17/09/2025

To mark Te Wiki o te reo Māori / Māori language week - a brief explanation of the te reo Māori name for the Nurses Society and the name of our union arm.

o There are multiple transliterations for the word nurse in te reo Māori. Some years ago when a te reo Māori name was being selected, two options for nurse that were considered were nēhi and nāhi. However, experts advised that some Māori speakers dislike both, preferring more traditional words.

o There are also regional dialectal differences. Nāhi is apparently popular in the north, while nēhi is used on the East Coast and West Coast.

o Tapuhi, as a verb, means to nurse and tend to the sick and those in distress. As a noun, it means a nurse.

o It is notable that The Nursing Council of New Zealand (Te Kaunihera Tapuhi o Aotearoa) uses tapuhi.

o Rōpū was considered for the word Society. As a noun, it means a party of people, company, gang, association, entourage, committee, organisation or category. However, in the end kāhui was selected, as it is used for groups with a shared interest and arguably it has more gravitas than rōpū.

o Hence our te reo Māori name Te Kāhui Tapuhi o Aotearoa was adopted.

o The official name of our registered union arm is Te Uniana o NSNZ, which literally translates as “the union of NSNZ”. It has no English name and never has.

A PDF version is available on our main NURSES SOCIETY OF NEW ZEALAND Te Kāhui Tapuhi o Aotearoa & Te Uniana o NSNZ website.

26/08/2025

Contracting some public hospital planned care to private surgical hospitals in the short term is arguably helpful, but if done long-term it will seriously undermine funding to the public sector and by implication undermine services.

Suggestions of PPPs and 10 year contracts are very concerning. Private surgical hospitals have a significant role to play, but not at the expense of the main provider, i.e. the public system.

A move to an American-style healthcare system would be an absolute disaster. It would be excessively expensive, inefficient, and highly inequitable.

The public deserve answers says a hospital trust chair says, as Health NZ refuses to say how much it's paying.

12/08/2025

Powerful speech calling out the failure of the government to act with courage and to recognise Palestinian Statehood now. Aotearoa New Zealand is normally a leader on issues not an outlier.

Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has been ejected from Parliament's debating chamber and told to leave for the rest of the week after a fiery speech about th...

19/07/2025

Dr Mohamed Saker, the head of Nasser’s nursing department, told AP that most of the people who died on Saturday were shot in the head and chest, and that some were placed in the already overwhelmed intensive care unit.

At least 32 people were killed and more than 100 injured on Saturday morning when Israeli troops opened fire on crowds of Palestinians seeking food from two aid distribution hubs in southern Gaza, according to witnesses and hospital officials.

People on the scene described it as “a massacre”, and claimed Israel Defense Forces fired “indiscriminately” at the groups of Palestinians – reported to be mostly young men – who were making their way towards the hubs run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Witnesses say scenes near Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid hubs in the south of the territory resembled a massacre

09/07/2025

ONGOING SLAUGHTER DISGUISED AS HUMANITARIAN AID IN GAZA

Over 130 leading and widely respected international aid organisations have made repeated calls for the grotesque Israeli military-controlled aid scheme (the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – an Israeli and US scheme) be replaced by existing UN-led humanitarian agencies.

The Israel government has consistently blocked the delivery of aid by the UN and other established, independent, dedicated aid agencies.

This so-called aid scheme set up by the Israeli government summons starving Palestinians into a death trap; with hundreds deliberately killed and thousands wounded by Israeli military forces and contractors.

Aid should never be militarised especially by an occupying army.

The NZ government should be robustly calling this out.

23/05/2025

Budget 2025 is not great for the health sector. Indeed it is bad news.

While the announced operating funding for Vote Health of NZ$32.7 billion is a record amount, this is less than a 4.8% increase in overall funding for the sector.

Unfortunately, in real terms a 4.8% increase in Vote Health at best amounts to the status quo and a 4.4% increase for Te Whatu Ora is effectively a cut especially given their current deficit.

More details on our main website.

https://nursessociety.org.nz/news/2025-budget---bad-news-for-health

06/05/2025

A shameful day. A shocking but not surprising move by government. Hitting those in female dominated occupations to save money.

Christopher Luxon said the upcoming Budget was not the motivation for rushing through the legislation.

11/04/2025

POLICE STOP REFERRALS TO DESTINY CHURCH GROUP

The Police have advised that they are no longer making referrals to the Destiny Church linked Man Up and Legacy Sisterhood groups. This is in response to an Official Information Act (OIA) request by the Nurses Society.

While the Police are no longer making referrals, they have done so in the past:

o In the 2023/24 Financial Year, Police made four referrals to Man Up and four to Legacy.

o In the 2024/25 Financial Year, they made nine referrals to Man Up and three to Legacy.

Presumably these referrals related to domestic violence cases as both Man Up and Legacy provide 'services' in that space.

Nurses Society director David Wills says Police indicated that referrals are not being made now because the groups are no longer deemed to be “wellness service providers”.

"Whatever the reason or reasons it is good that referrals were very limited in the past and more importantly are no longer being made."

Man Up and Legacy have been widely criticised for their anti-LGBTQIA+ activities, history of hate speech and disruptive protest activity.

https://nursessociety.org.nz/news/police-stop-referrals-to-destiny-church-group

01/04/2025

“Together for Tiriti” poster in our Ponsonby office entrance

27/03/2025

IMPACT OF CURRENT UNDERFUNDING & BUDGET CONTROLS ON HEALTH SERVICES

A just completed survey by the Nurses Society shows current funding cuts and controls are having wide ranging adverse consequences.

The survey of Nurses Society members used a multi-item questionnaire.

A substantial majority of respondents (77%) reported adverse impacts on the health sector from recent funding cuts and/or budget controls, including:

o 70% reported higher stress
o 64% less access to services and/or reduced services
o 63% understaffing
o 57% treatment delays
o 53% lower quality service
o 22% various other adverse effects.

Respondents spanned a range of sectors such as Te Whatu Ora (39%), primary care (34%), private surgical facility (9%), urgent care (6%) and aged care (5%).

Additional details are on our main website.

https://nursessociety.org.nz/news/survey---adverse-impact-of-budget-cuts-controls

19/03/2025

Raising speed limits is 100% wrong and is not evidence based. There is a direct relationship between speed and severity of injury and mortality rates in road crashes.

Auckland schools are frustrated with speed limit reversals soon to hit their areas, and worry it will put children at risk.