Leading healthcare provider, ProCare, has welcomed the Government’s announcement last night that from 15 December registered nurses have been added to Tier 1 on the Green List and will have an immediate path to residence.

Previously nurses have been on the Tier 2 List which meant that they had to work in an eligible role for two years before being able to apply for residence.

Bindi Norwell, Group Chief Executive at ProCare says: “For years now the healthcare sector has been crying out for a way to attract more nurses to New Zealand – particularly when our ‘neighbours’ in Australia make it so easy for nurses to get into the country.

“Last night’s announcement that registered nurses will be added to the Tier 1 Green List from Thursday is like an early Christmas present. We hope that in the coming months it will go some way to easing the shortage of nurses that the sector so desperately needs,” she continues.

“We also welcome the fact that the announcement includes those nurses who are already in New Zealand, as it means that those nurses won’t need to be separated from their families for two years. People have had enough separation from loved ones over the last few years with covid – anything we can do to keep nurses’ families close by is positive news.

“However, what we need now is for primary care nurses to be offered pay parity with their district counterparts. Otherwise, we risk that nurses who are considering New Zealand as their destination of choice may be incentivised to work in other areas rather than primary care, and this may further exacerbate the shortage of nurses within this part of the sector,” points out Norwell.

“We have been highlighting for months now that the current level of funding for general practice is not sufficient to sustain practices – particularly when they are under significant pressure from wider cost inflation,” concludes Norwell.