Dear Editor
I have just done a bit of asking around at my DHB.
There are about 50 local nurses/staff involved in the VFF support group, who do not want to take take the Pfizer jab.
Two of six nurses are going to leave from our specialty’s outpatient clinic, making it beyond-tight and almost impossible to staff.
Ten midwives are apparently going – this leaves only two staff midwives, plus an unknown number of private community midwives. That department will be dangerously unstaffable.
Seven to eight senior ED nurses have given resignations before 15/11/21, due to general stress and the unsustainable burden of carrying on in that pressure-cooker environment; this does not include any who may yet leave over the vaccine mandate (unknown number).
Overall, an estimated 8% of our DHB workforce is thought to be leaving.
Totally dangerous and unworkable, tight rosters will result.
I have had no direct communication from my employer about the vaccines/mandates, but I understand the IT people have obtained a list of staff vaccination details from the Ministry of Health and forwarded it to occupational health. All without our consent. This is my private health information which I was not going to share with my employer; without my permission, they have obtained it.
It is an absolute shambles, and similar stories will be playing out across all DHBs.
Ardern’s incompetence and intransigence over this whole Covid mandate issue may well bring the DHB system to its knees.
Signed
Concerned Health Professional
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