The good, the bad and the ugly in Northland: Whangarei.

AT THE Northland District Health Board (DHB) we have the good the bad and the ugly. The good: 33 percent of staff nurses are paid at the rate of $42,422 or higher; the bad: the mental health unit has 30 inpatient beds and 33 patients, and nowhere near enough staff; and the ugly: the roster for wards 1 and 3, now the DI IB is cutting back on elective surgery.

Mental health nurses reached boiling point over the holidays and held informal sit ins over their hand over period to bring further attention to their staffing crisis. A process for sorting this out was started before Christmas but the chronic shortage of skilled, experienced staff and the number of acutely ill patients in the region are a recipe for disaster. We urgently need well trained psychiatric nurses and those people interested in working as psychiatric nurses are often not interested in the three-year comprehensive course. Time and again in this region we have sought skilled nurses from overseas, but most move elsewhere quickly.

Every effort is being made to cut back on elective surgery, with theatres closed on a regular basis. We are all aware of how suddenly patients waiting for elective surgery can become acute cases and this is our big worry. Along with the theatre closures, nurses in theatres, recovery and surgical wards have had cuts to their contracted hours. A very tight weekly monitoring process has been set up and management has agreed that, if required, more staff will be brought on. Our concern is that it is not easy to get nurses to work at short notice.

The end of February has been set for the finish of 24-hour-a-day, seven-days a week surgery at Kaitaia Hospital, although five-days-a-week surgery will continue. Discussions are underway to sort out how this will affect nurses' conditions of employment. The independent 125-page report indicates there has been a lot of community consultation on appropriate services for the region.

New delegates in the region--remember to enrol for our effective delegates seminar on March 4. MI delegates should note our regional convention will be held on April 10.