- Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall
The Government is taking action to grow New Zealand's future nursing workforce by adding 830 additional clinical placements for nursing students, Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall has announced.
"This Government acknowledges there are shortages in our nursing workforce and we are committed to training more nurses to help address that," Ayesha Verrall said.
"In this year's July and August intake we're making it possible for 130 additional students to commence their nursing studies nationwide. All of these students are currently on a waiting list and would otherwise have been deferred to 2024.
"In addition to the next semester's 130 placements, for the 2024 intake Te Whatu Ora is working with nurse education providers to support an additional 700 clinical placements nationwide.
"This means that from 2024 we are supporting a significant increase in the number of nurses we train domestically, currently around 7400, boosting the growth of our future nursing workforce by an estimated 10%.
"This initiative responds to the New Zealand Nurses Organisation's Maranga Mai campaign which calls for more people training to be nurses.
"An increase in 830 clinical placement opportunities means hundreds more home-grown nurses can gain their registration to work in New Zealand.
"Clinical placements are a requirement of the Nursing Council of New Zealand and an integral part of their nursing practice education. Boosting our workforce with more nurses in our hospitals, health centres, aged residential care facilities and communities means more care for everyone.
"Over the past year the Government has worked hard to address immediate workforce pressures, particularly those felt by frontline health workers, including our nurses.
"Since the end of 2021 we have recruited 1000 more nurses and increased pay for most nurses by 14 percent.
"We are starting to see results. More than 8,000 nurses registered for the first time in the 2022/23 registration year, a 60 percent increase from the around 5,000 nurses who registered for the first time in the previous year.
"This boost to nurse training places is a significant investment and an important step towards creating more opportunities for New Zealanders to become a nurse.
"It's something I am absolutely delighted to support," Ayesha Verrall said.
