The Government’s decision to cut women’s pay could result in an exodus of palliative care nurses from the profession.

“Hospice nurses were just weeks away from having their years-long pay equity claim settled when the Government cruelly cut women’s pay equity for their Budget,” Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said.

“These are nurses who care for people at the end of their lives. They have been fighting for years for the dignity of equal pay with their hospital colleagues, only for the Government to change the rules on them at the last minute and scrap their claim.

“It’s not just cruel, it’s incredibly short-sighted. Hospices are struggling to recruit and retain nurses on lower pay than their hospital counterparts, and have to pay them out of a diminishing amount of funding from the Government, grants and fundraising.

“Hospice New Zealand has warned it needs a $16 million boost from the Government just to keep the lights on. Without pay equity or the money to pay nurses what they deserve, it will be harder to provide the care New Zealanders need at the end of their lives.

“This Government is choosing tax cuts for landlords and tobacco companies over pay raises for funding essential care. It’s short-sighted, unfair, and plain wrong,” Ayesha Verrall said.

Note

Hospice nurses and healthcare assistants had one of the 13 funded-sector health claims that the Government abolished when it passed the Equal Pay Amendment Act.

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