THIS PETITION IS NOW CLOSED -  WE REACHED OUR TARGET 15,000 SIGNATURES

THANKYOU TO EVERYONE!

Registered nurses who work in aged care in New Zealand earn on average at least $10,000 a year less than nurses who work in public hospitals.

That’s not because they are any less skilled or important, but because of years of underfunding of rest homes by successive governments and undervaluing of the care of older people.

Covid-19 has reminded us just how important our nurses are, fronting the huge challenge of keeping more than 36,000 of our most high-risk people safe. Thanks to their skill and leadership more than 99% of rest homes in New Zealand had zero Covid-19 cases.

Everyday they care for our most vulnerable older people in rest homes all over the country. They are in charge of complex clinical conditions. They don't have the support of expert clinical teams available in hospitals and they lead teams of healthcare assistants,

They deserve to be valued for what they are worth. .

The amount of pay aged care nurses receive is directly related to the amount of funding rest homes  receive from District Health Boards (DHBs) – a per bed, per day rate based on the level of care each resident is assessed for by DHBs. .

But in 2018, our nurses were ignored again when District Health Boards (DHBs) recognised the significant contribution nurses working in public hospitals make to our public healthcare system with better pay and conditions.

Now it is time to do the same for aged care nurses.

We are calling on Hon Chris Hipkins, Minister of Health, to value aged care nurses - and our older people.- by ensuring rest homes are adequately funded to provide their nurses with the same pay and conditions as those who work in public hospitals.

This would mean an average increase of at least $10,000 per annum for each of our more than 5,000 aged care nurses.

For more information visit www.fairpay.org.nz

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