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Nurses' union NZNO has rebuked the Health Minister for 'congratulating himself' on improved job rates for graduate nurses when more than half the applicants missed out on jobs.

Health Minister Dr Jonathan Coleman in a press release yesterday said more graduate nurses were finding jobs sooner, with 43% getting jobs through the national recruitment system ACE (see details in Nursing Review newsfeed story August 21).

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation responded with a press release saying that minister Jonathan Coleman's statement had "student nurses and other NZNO members rolling their eyes" 

Hilary Graham-Smith, NZNO associate professional services manager, said only 285 out of 667 applicants getting places on NETP (nurse entry to practice) programmes was "not good enough".

“It is a complete waste of resources educating nurses and then leaving large numbers of new graduates unable to find work in a clinical setting due to limited places on nurse entry to practice programmes," said Graham-Smith. "Nursing needs a fairer share of Health Workforce New Zealand funding to ensure more places are available on these programmes.”

NZNO last year got more than 8000 signatures to a petition calling for the government to fund a NETP place for every graduate.  The then health minister Tony Ryall announced an increase in funding NETP places to increase to 1300 places in 2015 but nearly 1800 new graduate nurses registered last year and a similar number would be expected this year.

Coleman said to date this year the Government has funded 1,232 nurse entry to practice positions in 2015 including 225 extra training places; 160 in DHBs, 40 in aged residential care and 25 in general practice. (For the first time this also includes government subsidising 19 new graduate places in the private surgical hospital network Southern Cross)

Graham-Smith said New Zealand was facing a significant nursing shortage over the next decade and called for entry to practice places for 100 per cent of graduates to begin growing a "sustainable, home-grown and highly skilled nursing workforce".

Coleman acknowledged the need to grow the nursing workforce saying in his statement that with more senior nurses due to retire and a growing and ageing population the "skills of nurses are needed more than ever in our communities".