Additional training for aged-care nursing is to be purchased by Health Workforce New Zealand following a decision at its latest board meeting.
Brenda Wraight, the director of HWNZ said details were yet to be finalised but the board had agreed to fund the equivalent of 300 nurses doing aged-care postgraduate or other level training.
Talks are also underway to better align the health training dollar with meeting health workforce priorities, says Brenda Wraight. She was commenting following nursing leaders raising the issue of nursing education funding at the recent HWNZ board meeting.
Jenny Carryer, who attended the meeting, said the current low level per head government funding for both undergraduate and postgraduate nursing students was seen as one of the nursing sector’s major priorities.
Wraight said HWNZ was working at present with the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) to look at better aligning the investment in health training with the strategic direction of the health system.
She said the Ministers of Health and Tertiary Education, Tony Ryall and Steven Joyce had met with HWNZ chair Des Gorman and herself to look at the issue at a ministerial level. Gorman and TEC chair Sir Wira Gardiner were also to meet shortly.
Wraight said the talks were in very early days and it was too soon to talk about changes to caps on student numbers - but HWNZ and TEC would continue to meet to find a solution to “better match” workforce supply and demand. She said a range of approaches would be used including “transparency” about the skills and training needed plus direct engagement by HWNZ with tertiary providers and the different qualification and registration authorities “to ensure education and training meets needs” and “clear expectations for students and prospective students” are set.
