Safe Staffing Vital to Providing Essential Care

12 April 2007

Safe Staffing Vital to Providing Essential Care

District Health Boards have received a timely and necessary wake up call that Safe Staffing must be prioritised if failures to ensure patient safety recently identified at Wellington Hospital are to be addressed.

The report of the Health and Disability Commissioner’s inquiry into the death of a 50-year-old patient at Wellington Hospital revealed various instances where staffing shortages and inappropriate skill mix hampered essential observations, documentation and communication, contributing to the circumstances of the patient’s death.

“I am sure that every board member and executive manager of our country’s DHBs will take very careful note of this report,” says New Zealand Nurses Organisation CEO Geoff Annals. “We all must. The fact is, similar risks exist in every DHB and this is exactly the issue that NZNO members raised in bargaining with the DHBs in 2004.”

As a result of collective bargaining, NZNO and DHBs established a joint Safe Staffing / Healthy Workplaces Committee of Inquiry. That inquiry gave rise to a series of recommendations, including the establishment of a Safe Staffing / Healthy Workplaces Unit to facilitate implementation of those recommendations throughout all DHBs.

Recognising the importance of taking action on Safe Staffing, the Minister of Health approved operational funding for the unit, to be situated within DHBNZ. The Unit Advisory Board is currently advertising for a Unit Director.

“The release of the Commissioner’s report gives impetus to the importance and significance of the Unit and the necessity of implementing the recommendations completely,” says Mr Annals. “NZNO members will be heartened by the fact that patient and staff safety concerns are at last being addressed.”

ENDS

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