Committee of inquiry must make enforceable recommendations.

The current focus for all staffing issues is the work of the Committee of Inquiry (CoI) into Safe Staffing and Healthy Workplaces but the board would like to see an improved flow of information to members about the process of the CoI. The board also wants strategies prepared to ensure the CoI's recommendations are implemented as soon as possible after its report has been released. Resolution of staffing issues would require real changes in staffing that made real improvements to the quality of nurses' working lives and the safety of patients.

In his report to the board, chief executive Geoff Annals said that as the CoI's work approached its conclusion, concern and attention was beginning to focus on the importance of sufficient concrete and enforceable recommendations to ensure real improvements were made. Other key points from Annals' board report included:

* NZNO is not going to oppose the Midwifery Representation and Advisory Service's (MERAS) application to become an affiliate of the Council of Trade Unions (CTU). Orignally, MERAS was established as an alternative union to NZNO for midwives. The CTU consulted NZNO about MERAS's application and Annals said NZNO would not oppose the CTU's recommendation that the application be approved. "The rationale is that NZNO's focus should be on engaging with our members to achieve their collective aspirations in line with NZNO's vision, rather than on taking defensive action against another union," he said. Annals pointed out that as an affiliate, MERAS would be bound by CTU protocols on recruitment practices.

* Ongoing communication with the Ministry of Health's chief nursing adviser Mark Jones had strengthened NZNO's relationship with this key position.

* The Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson has sought direction from NZNO as to the ethical and legal issues for nurses in the event of an influenza pandemic.

* NZNO needs to work on who its nominees will be to Nursing Council and how to ensure the success of those nominations. The terms of a number of council members, including chair Annette Huntington, end this year.

* NZNO's total membership was 38,626 in February and the organisation had a current net surplus of $388,597.

Building union density in the aged-care sector is the focus for 2006, organising services manager Cee Payne-Harker said in her report to the board. The target was to build to 70 percent, with interim milestones as a means of determining whether a national aged-care multi-employer collective agreement was achievable. She outlined the range of activities, events and campaigns industrial staff were involved in and updated the board on staff changes.

Professional services manager Joy Bickey Asher also outlined projects professional staff were working on, including a project plan focusing on educating member for active participation in section and college and health policy development; a review of the Health Practitioners' Competence Assurance Act; a project on a regulated nursing workforce; pandemic planning; and submissions. She also updated the board on staff changes.