The New Zealand Nurses Organisation says it is disappointed that health care staff are being blamed for bringing Covid-19 into the workplace without any real evidence or proper investigation.
The NZNO say they are upset with those allegations along with the insinuation that the problem is staff not using personal protective equipment [PPE] properly, specifically citing Waikato Hospital and aged care sites in Canterbury as problem areas.
NZNO Kaiwhakahaere manager Kerri Nuku said health care workers across the country feel blamed rather than supported with misinformation about heathcare workers being spread on a daily basis.
"The assertion that more than half of the Covid-19-positive health care staff in Aotearoa New Zealand contracted the virus outside work is not at all believable, and our members are surprised such things are being said,” Ms Nuku said.
"It’s a suggestion that comes at a convenient time for employers in DHBs and aged care, who were being so roundly criticised over inadequate PPE availability."
Ms Nuku said the second implication is that nurses and care givers are being careless or are unskilled – a claim she says is nothing further from the truth.
"Nurses and care givers are dedicated and compassionate, and courageously turn up to work where many of us wouldn’t - so to diminish that by blaming them in the middle of a very distressing situation is a very big and uncharitable call."
Ms Nuku said infection is much more likely to have come from contact with patients or from within the workplace environment itself, citing research out of Wuhan published this week which indicates that floors, surfaces and the air in health facilities are commonly contaminated with the coronavirus.
"This underscores the need for the full PPE nurses have been demanding, including hair nets and shoe covers - and which some staff, who have become infected, were explicitly told not to wear."
Ms Nuku added NZNO members at affected work sites won’t speak up publicly because they may be disciplined for talking about their working conditions, but they say the reality of working on the Covid-19 frontline is often very different to what the public is told.
"Nurses and care givers are telling us they fear for their families, whānau and communities and that they cannot sleep at night for worry," Ms Nuku said.
"Many have told us there is clearly not enough PPE in wards and that it is often locked away so staff can’t get to it. Others say they are told to attend to patients who are showing symptoms without PPE because the patients are deemed ‘low risk’. One member wonders why PPE seems to be valued more highly than the health and wellbeing of nursing staff.
"So it’s unfair to blame nursing staff. We are all in this together and must be kind, so we need to protect the mana of our nurses and carers.
“This is no time to speculate and apportion blame."
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