DHBs Meet Nurses’ Fair Pay Claim

DHBs Meet Nurses’ Fair Pay Claim

District Health Boards have made a pay offer that will give all nurses and midwives a significant pay rise.

Lead CEO for the negotiations, Jim Green, says the offer meets virtually all the nurses and midwives’ pay claims and will put many of them ahead of police officers that their union uses as a comparison. It will also meet the union’s claim for putting all nurses and midwives around the country on the same terms and conditions.

Mr Green says this offer delivers very good increases to all nurses and midwives – especially those with the greatest skills and experience. It is the DHB response to their claim for fair pay and gives nurses and midwives a big pay jolt.

Eighty five percent of all nurses and midwives are Registered Nurses and most of them are on the top of the base scale or higher – RN5 or Senior Nurses and most of them will get increases of more than 20%. Mr Green says that under this offer, a Registered Nurse with 5 years experience would earn the same as a police officer with 11 years experience.

The offer recognises levels of training, scope of practice and responsibilities which means Registered Nurses receive the greatest increase. He says this is not a Pay Equity settlement – that will be considered by the Department of Labour’s Pay and Employment Equity Unit.

Mr Green says DHBs have put their best offer on the table. The deal exceeds current DHB funding but has significant advantages and will let the sector take a coordinated approach to key healthcare issues such as recruitment and retention, health and safety and workforce planning.

DHBs currently employ 15,715 full time equivalent nurses – the latest vacancy figures show there are 656 vacancies or about 4% of the workforce. The vacancies are generally being met through a combination of casuals, bureau staff and overtime.

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