Health Minister Andrew Little says the government is working with the immigration department and the nurses’ union to get more nurses into the country.
Of nearly 350 who have their visa approved, so far only 22 nurses have arrived since August. The Nursing Council estimates about 4000 are needed.
Nurses already here on short-term visas which are about to expire qualify for a new visa that gives them a guaranteed pathway to residency after two years, Little said.
“There are others who have been approved but haven’t yet arrived. Bearing in mind that for those who are coming here to take up residency… The time it takes to extract themselves from their current circumstances, their job, living circumstances, it takes months to do that. So that’s not unusual.”
The number of applications for the visa to work in the New Zealand health system is up to nearly 1200, he said.
Little told Checkpoint he is also looking at strategies to encourage more people to train as nurses.
“I want those vacancies filled as quickly as possible. So that’s why in addition to immigration, we’ve got other initiatives on as well. Targeting former nurses, those who have been registered nurses but don’t have their annual practising certificate anymore, getting them back into the profession.
“We’re doing everything we can to fill those vacancies as fast as we can.”
Little said that although immigration is expected to fill the immediate shortage, a long-term solution of boosting the number of nurses being educated in New Zealand is required.
