Today’s announcement of $10 million for specialist nurses and allied health professionals shows the Government has no vision to fix the broken health sector, NZNO says.

New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku says the $10 million is not new investment in health.

"This is a money-go-round. It is reallocated money from within existing budgets and has come from making cuts elsewhere in the health system.

"More specialist and regional nurses are good news for patient and whānau safety and wellbeing, but $10 million represents a 0.2% increase in investment on nurses - which is even less once allied health professionals are hired out of the same fund.

"It is a drop in the bucket of what is needed to fix critical nurse shortages in areas such as mental health, maternity care and emergency departments.

"Aotearoa desperately needs more Māori nurses to ensure there are culturally safe nurse to patient ratios and improve Māori health outcomes.

"There is no recognition of this in today’s announcement which comes on the day it is revealed that Te Whatu Ora plans to cut staff in its Hauora Māori unit.

"The Government has no vision for the health sector beyond slogans and continues to tinker around the edges of a chronically under-funded health sector," Kerri Nuku says.

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