Hard on the heels of the cancellation of pay equity claims for thousands of hospital, health and community support workers, the Government’s announcement today that they’re dropping the Te Mauri o Rongo Health Charter is another callous twist of the knife, the PSA says.

Minister Simeon Brown’s suite of changes to the Pae Ora Act will see, among other things, a repeal of the Te Mauri o Rongo Health Charter.

"The Health Charter set out shared values and principles to shape behaviours for how Te Whatu Ora will support and promote a safe working culture across health, including the funded community sector. Now it’s gone, with seemingly nothing to replace it," Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi national secretary, Fleur Fitzsimons, says.

"Hospital, health, and community support workers are already under immense strain. They’re constantly asked to do more with less. And the high frequency of assaults by patients - particularly for mental health workers - is increasingly, frighteningly normalised."

The PSA played a critical role in developing the charter, standing up a working group of health and community support workers shortly after Te Whatu Ora was established. It was developed by the health workforce for the health sector, and is a positive framework to lead and support the health system to develop relationships to achieve pae ora (healthy futures).

"A functioning health system must commit to supporting their workforce and empowering them to speak out when their safety is compromised. Otherwise we’ll just do what New Zealand has done for years, and drive out our highly trained health workforce to sunnier pastures overseas.

"The commitment to a well-trained workforce with access to appropriate resources to develop their skills, as well as workers to provide person and whānau-centred services, are a challenge to this Government.

"The coalition continues to show us who and what they value. It’s very clear that they’re continuing to completely under-value the workers, and especially the women workers, who prop up the system to serve New Zealand whānau when they need it most."

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