Leading healthcare provider ProCare is disappointed that general practice nurses have been left out in the cold in today’s Budget in terms of receiving pay parity with their District counterparts.

Bindi Norwell, Chief Executive at ProCare says: “Today’s Budget may have the title of ‘Support for today, building for tomorrow’ however, there has been little support for general practice nurses who support their patients day in and day out in with their health and wellbeing needs.”

“On top of this, there seems to be little planning for tomorrow’s workforce shortage,” continues Norwell.

Gabrielle Lord, General Manager Practice Services and Director of Nursing at ProCare says: “We have been calling for pay parity with our Te Whatu Ora counterparts for some time now and to not receive any funding in the Budget for this is a kick in the face to general practice nurses.

“It doesn’t matter where you’re a nurse; you’re still a nurse and the pay needs to reflect that accordingly,” she continues.

“Every week our practices are telling us that they are losing staff to the hospitals as our nurses struggle to feed their families and pay their bills – they can no longer afford to choose to take a lower salary and remain in general practice. This issue needs to be rectified with immediate effect,” she concludes.