October 2017 April 2015 | Page 6
Te Puawai
and able to be directly and fairly
funded.
That the enrolment process is urgently
reviewed to ensure primary health care
services are accessible for all.
That the recent hasty funding formula
review is revisited to specifically
assess the degree to which the funding
formulae
support
appropriate
deployment of nurse services.
That alternative models of employment
of primary health care nurses be
actively developed in partnership with
the sector
To District Health Boards
That all DHBs are required to have a
Director of Nursing with direct primary
health care responsibilities
That all DHBs are required to support
a
primary
health
care
nurse
development team structure designed
to
build
capacity
and
guide
developments across primary health
care nursing services.
That focused investment in postgraduate education occurs well beyond
the current inadequate amount of
money moved from the CTA to DHBs
for post graduate and post registration
nursing education. This will require
DHBs to lobby on behalf of nursing.
That formal funding of graduate places
in PHC settings must be made
available as a matter of urgency. This
will require DHBs to lobby on behalf of
nurses in order to achieve DHB goals
for a sustainable PHC workforce.
That
the
development
and
implementation of nurse practitioner
© Te Puawai
roles in boundary spanning roles:
family nurse practitioners,
older
person’s health and child health are
implemented as a priority
That alternative models of employment
of primary health care nurses be
actively developed in partnership with
the sector
Readers can see that there are some
“achieved’s” that can be awarded. But if
we were to conduct a further revision we
might well produce virtually identical
recommendations in 2015 and then again
in
2020
and
probably
beyond…
Personally this begins to feel pointless and
tedious and a gross abrogation of our
responsibility to those who are clearly not
having their needs for primary health care
met.
It has been exciting in the last few weeks
to see a growing chorus of disquiet
amongst some PHC nurse leaders who
recognize the stagnation that is occurring
despite no reduction in the rhetoric, the
meetings, the earnest documents, and the
investment in the status quo. What will we
do with this energy and impetus? What are
the mechanisms by which we can say
clearly that serious change is required?
and that it is long overdue and the huge
potential inherent in nursing continues to
be squandered.
In 1998 we produced a document entitled
Releasing the Potential of Nursing
Ministerial Task Force, ( MoH 1998). We
saw it as being a long slow evolution
towards a better alignment of nursing
services with community need. I have
now come to the view that evolution has
not and will not solve anything. A
revolution is needed towards the goal of
investing in health rather than investing in
the status quo.
College of Nurses Aotearoa (NZ) Inc
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