The Health Minister who advocated for the ‘return’ of the enrolled nurse is blaming turnover and timing for the low take-up of new generation ENs.
A just released survey by nurse educator group NETs found that only 56 per cent of EN new graduates were working as enrolled nurses, confirming the results of an earlier informal survey by Nursing Review. Few had found nursing jobs in acute care, and six had crossed the Tasman to find work.
It was at the instigation of Health Minister Tony Ryall that the new 18-month diploma was introduced, with the first cohort of the new diploma graduating in July this year.
Ryall did not express concern at the low employment rate of the new ENs, and said the ‘big challenge’ currently was the much lower turnover rates in the nursing workforce with “comparatively hardly anyone” leaving nursing jobs in district health boards.
He also was not disappointed that few ENs had found work in acute care settings and said the declining numbers of ENs in recent decades had resulted in many models of care not including enrolled nurses.
“As the number of trained enrolled nurses grows, these nurses will be a key part of the future delivery of health services, alongside registered nurses and nurse practitioners”.
Helen Pocknall, chair of the DHB directors of nursing group, said DHB nurse leaders were not surprised at the low employment rate for ENs given the tight labour market and limited vacancies for all nursing roles across the sector.
“In retrospect, timing of the programmes has to be taken into account.”
A number of the nursing schools training ENs expressed concern at the apparent reluctance of DHBs to employ and include enrolled nurses in their model of care.
Pocknall said she couldn’t comment on individual board’s employment decisions but reviews of models of care were occurring as boards looked to better meet demand for services.
“This means that we are closely examining the skill mix required to care for different populations, both regulated and unregulated.”
She said she was aware that regional groups of nurse leaders had discussed EN employment policies but a national policy had not been considered.
