Nursing policy under attack

Press, 10 January 1987, Page 6

Nursing policy under attack

By

ROBIN CHARTERIS

in London

The Health Department is adding to the nursing shortage problem In New Zealand by preventing many fullyqualified and experienced British nurses from emigrating, a London nursing sister claims. Miss Elisabeth Trevelyan, a night sister at an orthopaedic hospital near London, says her application to migrate to New Zealand was turned down by the Health Department because she does not have an “irrelevant” midwifery qualification. In a letter to the editor of the weekly newspaper, “New Zealand News U.K.,” she criticises the attitude of the Health Department and urges New Zealand nursing authorities to campaign vigorously to have “this absurd policy” altered. “I wonder whether those responsible for recruitment are aware that

there are probably maay thousands of fully-quali-fied and experienced nurses in Britain who would be only too glad to migrate to New Zealand, but who are prevented from doing so by the Department of Health.” Miss Trevelyan describes herself as a State Registered Nurse in Britain eligible for registration in New Zealand.