He Tipua Conference 2024
He Tipua – Nurse-to-patient ratios, a new direction for Aotearoa New Zealand
2-3 July 2024
Takina Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre
About the He Tipua Conference 2024
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The He Tipua Conference 2024 was organised by the New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO). It brought together local and international experts in nursing and safe staffing with health experts and decision-makers in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The conference explored why culturally appropriate ratios are needed and why they are the next necessary and logical step towards solving the nursing and safe staffing crises. Solutions are desperately needed and NZNO asserts that ratios and ratio justice are a solution that should be implemented across our health system with urgency.
You can watch recordings of He Tipua in the links below.
Ratios justice
An important takeaway from the conference was an understanding that there are many justice issues bound up with ratios and that there is more to them than just the number of nurses required to meet patient need. This is important, but it is also a matter of justice to the patient who has the right to the best of care. Further, it is a matter of justice (and a Tiriti obligation) that patients receive care that is culturally appropriate for them.
Appropriate skills mix is also a matter of justice – to the patient obviously because the nursing expertise they require needs to be available, but also because it is unjust (and potentially dangerous or career threatening) when workers are pressured into acting in roles in which they do not have qualifications or experience. An example of this may be pressure on health care assistants to perform duties normally reserved for nurses who are more highly trained.
International evidence is strong that ratios are effective and that they will benefit the people of Aotearoa New Zealand by ensuring sufficient nursing staff are present to care for them and for their loved ones/whānau. These nurses will be skilled according to patient care and cultural needs – the right people caring for the right patients at the right time.
Our hope is that Aotearoa New Zealand will become a world leader in advancing ratios/ratio justice across its health system and the He Tipua – Conference 2024 is where that rapid journey commences.
Show your solidarity and be part of our new movement to persuade the Government that there is widespread agreement in the Health Sector that ratios are needed and the next important step in solving the nursing crisis and making health care better and more accessible for everyone living in Aotearoa New Zealand.
