A board meeting yesterday had a wide-ranging discussion on nursing numbers, in response to an independent consultant’s report which found it was placing patients at risk of harm due to a shortage of nurses on its wards. Consultant Jane Lawless examined three wards, one in Dunedin and two at Southland Hospital, and reported that there were too many instances of a poor match between service demand and nursing resources. SDHB chief nursing and midwifery officer Jane Wilson said Ms Lawless’ findings were not new, and that southern hospitals had run under-resourced shifts in several wards for a protracted time. Nursing staffing levels were about 2.5% up but several more needed to be hired to meet targets, the board was told. Ms Wilson said a year ago the SDHB was ahead of most boards in complying with CCDM, but was now about the middle of the pack.

Source: Otago Daily Times August 03, 2021 22:41 UTC