Who looks after the nurses?

MIQ nurses are being exploited. Their pay has been cut, by a lot, and they’ve reported working mighty rough 24-hour shifts. District Health Boards are the regional authorities who get to decide how the government funding they’re given is spent. Sadly, looking after essential front-line health workers doesn’t seem to high up that list. They’ve reportedly cut pay from $50 to $35 an hour. Working one of the riskiest jobs in the country, MIQ nurses are bearing the brunt of an ever-changing pandemic and a dysfunctional healthcare system.  

Last year, a fair number of New Zealanders called on Jacinda’s Government to provide essential workers to be paid a ‘hazard pay’. This is basically extra income to recognise the workers are doing something requested of them and that they don’t have to do. Legally, the Government doesn’t have to pay them more, but cutting wages during a brutal pandemic seems a little coldhearted. Good thing DHB Boards are mostly elected representatives so we can vote off the useless old white men.  
I guess Aunty Cindy’s “be kind” message is supposed to fill the bellies of our essential workers. They could just have better infection control protocols, staff mental health support, and actually treat nurses fairly, but that might be too big of an ask. The MIQ nurses are afraid that this could mean the virus gets through our border and quarantine control, and honestly, I can’t help but agree. When we’re treating our nurses like shit, I don’t know how we expect them to do a hero’s job. Massive spoke to two recent Massey Nursing School graduates about the precariousness of a career in healthcare amid a pandemic, ironically, prior to the last community outbreak over Waitangi Weekend.  

George Truebridge is a recent graduate nurse and now works at a hospital in Manawatū. He said "the pay side of things is quite disturbing to me. People who choose to train as nurses never truly do it just for themselves, they are very giving and selfless people." Whether shown through actions or words, Aotearoa knows how hard our nurse's work; now and always. George described the whare tapa whā healthcare model, saying "nurses nurse the whole person. They don't just give treatment." George outlined good healthcare, including a patient's "physical, mental, spiritual and whānau needs as well". In MIQ facilities, this decrease in pay is invalidating “the rest (of the work) that they do". 
Spaino*, another recent graduate and a nurse in Pōneke/Wellington, confirmed these anxieties. She indicated that nurses are never in it for the money and that nurses have always said their wages need to reflect their work. These young nurses have always known that the income wouldn’t be the best, but they were hopeful of change and said they had great respect for suitable protocols that keep everyone safe and healthy. 

George believed that MIQ nurses should receive pay that represents the hazard and significance of their jobs. He firmly maintained that MIQ nurses should be paid enough to cover the risk of Covid-19 anyway which, he said, "they're obviously not".  

“Nurses are just being put out into these MIQ facilities, doing the work, going home and are absolutely knackered; and they're not getting much for it."  

Both of the nurses I spoke to worked in public facilities. The ever-present potential of community outbreaks, and being on call for Covid-19 wards, was a worry for them. Spaino has worked at her current workplace, a rest home facility, since last year. Her final year of uni was strained. A placement at a general practice clinic was cut short and replaced with over-the-phone health care assessments. There were huge concerns at the time, for all hands-on courses like healthcare about whether the students would be ill-prepared if they moved to solely online learning. Spaino noted that she knows of current nursing students who feel "disadvantaged" over "self-directed learning".  

Last year her workplace had multiple GPs who worked in numerous workplaces; with each facility having different infection control rules. She threw light on the potentially disorganised nature of fast-paced front-line healthcare. "I didn't see people prepared enough." She recalled her unease during level changes last year when staff had not sanitised multiple rooms between the treatments of suspected Covid-19 cases. She took the initiative as a student on placement, to undertake the sanitisation herself. Her voice shook a little as she remembered how uncomfortable and worried she felt that no other staff had taken measures to sanitise the room. She’d witnessed firsthand some "scary" stuff like "uncooperative people… who refused to wear a mask." Spaino said that suspected cases were being isolated, but the patients would leave because of understaffing and delays in testing. "There were systems in place, but with the quickly changing environment, people weren't adapting quick enough."  

Unite Against Exploitation-21?  

When I heard the nurses’ personal accounts of shit they’ve seen and how their workplaces function, I wondered what the fuck their unions were up to. The New Zealand Nurses Organisation apparently does conferences and education sessions. George told me that "negotiating contracts, pay, and working conditions are a big part of what they do". Spaino said she was planning on joining the Nursing Society. She said advocacy groups would be crucial to the vaccination process and ensuring front-line healthcare workers are vaccinated as early as possible. Although they were both aware of the unions and advocacy groups available to them, I still couldn’t help but wonder whether change was actually happening or whether anything would change. 

Spaino's primary concern was the flow of communication for Covid-19 updates. In her experience, she brought up that the onus is often on nurses to find the Covid-19 and alert level updates themselves and stay informed. Infection protocols and training is an instance where, she says, your management could make all the difference. Although resourcing, staff, training, open communication and competency might be on the agenda for many facilities, proportionate support and funding has been missing. "People are just scrambling and just don't know what's going on." She suggested that "transformational leadership" focused on building morale and teamwork culture could be just the key. Improved organisational skills for management would help staff retention and better patient outcomes.