Half nursing staff ‘unqualified’

Press, 27 March 1980, Page 3

Half nursing staff ‘unqualified’

PA Auckland People going into hospital have a 50-50 chance of being nursed by partially or unqualified staff, the annual meeting and conference of the New Zealand Nurses’ Association was told yesterday. The association’s president (Miss Joy Motley) said that only about 40 per cent of nurses in hospital were fulltime staff and fully qualified. Almost 50 per cent of the nursing staff were unqualified people who were often

required to cope with situations for which they were not adequately prepared, she said. “We must work towards a higher proportion of qualified nurses giving care to our patients. This is the cornerstone of why nursing students should be educated in technical institutes,” Miss Motley said. The fatigue and frustrations of nursing had resulted in nurses “opting out” of their profession because of the tremendous stress in trying to maintain the standard

of care they should be giving. Nurses were under pressure “from above and below,” Miss Motely said. There was a serious lack of communication between nurses and doctors, administrators and hospital board members, she said, and the situation was still deteriorating. Miss Motley was given a standing ovation for her comments about the “appalling” lack of co-operation that nurses had from hospital boards and doctors.