From nurse education, clinical, or workforce issues through to healthy living, Nursing Review has it covered.

An offer for a new pay deal covering Public Service Association nurse members in the 20 DHBs is also close, says the PSA's national DHB organiser Ashok Shankar.

Talks are underway for two MECAs for PSA mental health and public health nurses at the 20 DHBs, one covering Auckland and the other the rest of New Zealand.  The two deals cover about 2700 nurses and psychiatric assistants.

Shankar said the likely pay offer would also be for a 2 per cent plus 2 per cent offer, following the precedent set by NZNO, but negotiations would continue over the next few weeks on several other issues raised by the bargaining partners.

He said one issue was discussions over the likely terms of reference for a proposed DHB review of mental health services.  The other is related to payment levels for nurses who have reached proficient or expert status under PDRP (professional development recognition programmes) with the PSA MECA currently equal or higher than the new PDRP rates negotiated by NZNO.

Last year nearly 12,000 Public Service Association members working at DHBs, including mental health and public health nurse PSA members, voted to reject a 0.7 per cent pay offer (or 1.5% over an approximately two year contract). 

The strike action was called off in August and nurses voted to accept a one year contract with a one-off lump sum payment of 1% of their base salary and a 0.7 per cent pay rise on April 30 2015 on their eight step pay scale. The 12-month contract expired on April 30.