Coverage of mental health nurses to be debated.

Council of Trade Unions' (CTU) president Ross Wilson will write a paper outlining the issues on union coverage of psychiatric/mental health nurses. The paper, which will have input from both NZNO and Public Service Association (PSA) members, will be an attempt to resolve a dispute between NZNO and the PSA about coverage of this sector of the nursing workforce.

Historically, the PSA represented psychiatric nurses, but over time that situation had changed, as mental health care has moved out of large psychiatric institutions into general hospitals and the community, and nursing educational moved into the tertiary sector with a comprehensive qualification. Now the PSA covers mental health nurses working in the West Coast, Nelson/Marlborough and the three Auckland District Health Boards (DHBs) and shares coverage with NZNO in a number of other DHBs, eg Otago and Canterbury.

With negotiations now under way for the second NZNO/DH B Multi-Employer Collective Agreement, NZNO wants a genuine national MECA. NZNO wants nurses covered by the MECA to be able to transfer easily from one DHB to the other without loss or change to their pay and conditions. But as things stand now, a mental health nurse covered by NZNO, who wants to take up a mental health nurse position in one of the five DHBs in which PSA exclusively represents mental health nurses, would have to join the PSA. Talks between NZNO and PSA, brokered by the CTU, have failed to resolve the issue.

Last month Wilson spoke to NZNO's board of directors about the situation. He also heard from board members in the areas where the PSA has coverage, of the frustration of turning away nurses who wished to join NZNO; of NZNO's unique ability to engage with nurses on both professional and industrial issues; and of some nurses who have chosen not to move to one of the DHBs covered exclusively by the PSA because they would lose NZNO coverage. This meant their career options were restricted.

The board wanted NZNO members to be informed about the issues and agreed to Wilson's request that he develop a paper to be circulated and discussed by NZNO and PSA members. Meanwhile, the nurses' and midwives' negotiations continue on the basis that the coverage "claim" was endorsed by NZNO members covered by this bargaining.