Labour Party - Speeches

Speech at the Inaugural Pacific Nursing Section Conference & Annual General Meeting

20.06.2008

Held at Waipuna Hotel & Conference Centre, 58 Waipuna Road, Mt Wellington

Oute faatalofa atu i le paia ma le mamalu ua aofaga potopoto. Malo lava le soifua, kia orana tatou katoatoa, malo e lelei, fakalofa lahi atu, kia ora and greetings to everyone.

I want to acknowledge you Madam Chair, the organisers of this event, the leadership of the Pacific Nursing Section, the representatives of the NZ Nurses Organisation, and representatives of the Counties Manukau District Health Board and the Ministry of Health who are present.

The Prime Minister, the Rt Hon. Helen Clark was unable to be with you this morning, and has asked that I convey to you her best wishes for your conference and AGM.

She also asked that I should not speak to you about politics at all. And so I won't tell you about the billions of dollars that this government has invested in Health, and nor will I tell you about how many of you in the public sector stand to lose your jobs if you vote for National.

At the age of 15 I spent several months in Middlemore Hospital for rheumatic fever. I wasn't allowed to move around. I hated being confined to my bed. I was consoled by my friendship with the young trainee nurses aged 19 & 20, about 4 or 5 years my senior. They understood my frustration. They were beautiful, just like the row of Cook Island nurses in the front row right here.

In 1976 my father contracted a skin disease which necessitated a drug treatment with hallucination side effects. It was quite scary for myself and my brothes & sisters. On many occasions when we visited my father in the evenings at Auckland Hospital, it was the nurses that we relied on to advise us on my father's condition. The nurses not the doctors were more caring and gave us comfort. In fact you could read the nurses handwriting but would always have difficulty deciphering the doctors writing.

All of my children were born in Samoa at Tupua Tamasese National Hospital in Motootua. If you ever have the opportunity to be sick in Samoa, the experience at the Hospital is very interesting. I'm sure many of you here will understand this. The nurses there were not only ready to provide support to my wife and our new born child, they were also (especially the older nurses) did not hesitate to counsel and give me motherly advise. The older the nurse, the more advise I got, even a good telling off.

A few weeks ago when my friend HWM Len Brown of Manukau City collapsed while launching the Pacific Music Awards, we were so fortunate we had 4 nurses in the audience who came to the Mayors aid, and administered CPR. Their quick action and knowledge of CPR procedures saved the Mayor's life.

After the Mayor's operation I retold to him the story of the 4 nurses coming to his aid. I told him, there were 2 young nurses, and 2 mature nurses. One put him in the recovery position, another took his pulse, the other called the ambulance, and the fourth nurse started CPR and gave him mouth to mouth resuscitation. I paused and looked at my friend the mayor, and I said don't worry, your dignity is intact, it was the older nurse that gave you mouth to mouth.

The point I make is the value and importance of nurses as a profession to individuals & communities. For many years now, the NZ Nurses Organisation and the trade union movement have advocated strongly for recognition of nurses by way of high terms and conditions commensurate with their value in the workplace.

There is a well recognised under-representation of Pacific nurses in the New Zealand health system, and support for Pacific nurses is a key priority for Pacific health and disability workforce development.

A CMDHB report on health service needs and labour force projections estimates that Pacific demand for inpatient and outpatient services will be significantly greater than other ethnic groups by 2021 under all scenarios.

These projections are to a large extent, local manifestations of wider national problems, and while they present difficult future challenges, CMDHB says it is achievable with focused activity and prioritised Pacific nursing development initiatives.

Our challenge is having enough nurses to serve the Pacific peoples health needs.

The Samoa Nurses & Tongan Nurses Associations received Pacific Provider Development Funding since 2005/2006 to undertake development projects with the areas of workforce development, infrastructure or membership.

I understand that since receiving Pacific Provider Development Fund both organisations have experienced membership growth. There is evidence of effective networking, and health sector engagement, through submission and consultation processes, and I suspect this conference is a direct outcome of this effort. This has created an accessible source of Pacific expertise available to the Ministry and wider health sector.

As part of their contract, the Samoa Nurses Association has developed a successful mentoring programme for Bachelor of Nursing (Pacific) students at Whitirea Polytech, and a ‘Train the Trainer" programme for Samoan nurses that has been delivered in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch.

The mentoring programme provides clinical, cultural and academic support to students and has been implemented with the support of the Whitireia Polytech tutors and programme managers.

In 2006 as part of their contract, the Tongan Nurses Association undertook a needs assessment of their members. They identified their networks with Tongan trained nurses who did not have New Zealand registration as a key area where they could contribute to health workforce development. The Tongan Nurses Association found that some of their members were Tongan trained nurses with no New Zealand registration.

In the same year (2006), a new joint initiative between Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Counties Manukau District Health Board (DHB) was established.

The Collaborative Nursing Development Unit is based at MIT's Department of Nursing and Health Studies and aims to enhance nursing education in the region, bringing the learning environment and the health sector closer together.

Last month, Manukau Institute of Technology & the Ministry of Social Development ran the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Preparation Nursing Programme which is a nine week programme to assist Pacific people, who hold Pacific nursing registrations, to improve their English language competency levels to pass the International English Language Testing System exam, attain New Zealand nursing registration and employment with the CMDHB or the wider sector within the region.

It is a programme the Ministry of Social Development seeks to address the disparity between the Pacific population and Pacific nurses employed within the Counties Manukau District Health Board area. In the short term, this programme aims to support the uptake of Pacific nurses to address the skill gaps of the CMDHB. In the long term, it aims to support the development of a better qualified work force by assisting those under employed nurses to gain New Zealand registration.

Health is one of this Govts biggest investments in Budget 2008, with an extra $3 billion dollars to improve the health and well being of New Zealanders, and with additional money in the Pacific Provider funding. This is an area which I would suggest your organisation ought to be talking to the Ministry of Health about regarding your future projects.

The Government recognises there is a shortage of Pacific nurses, and we acknowledge the need to have more. And while there have been projects aimed at addressing this, I know that we must do more.

The way forward for us is through partnerships of government, communities and the health industry. The Pacific Nursing Section and the NZ Nurses Organisation have a vital role to play in this partnership now and into the future.

Speeches

Speech at the Inaugural Pacific Nursing Section Conference & Annual General Meeting

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