14 Jul 2025

Student nurses. midwives strained mentally and financially

From Checkpoint, 4:05 pm on 14 July 2025

Student nurses and midwives say they're taking on the same workloads as qualified staff in order to fill gaps in the sector, and they are doing it all for free. It comes as nurses, midwives and other healthcare staff around the country prepare to take strike action over what they say is a failure by Health NZ to address their staffing concerns. Australia has just introduced a payment for eligible students doing work placements and they say a similar system should be introduced here. Evie Richardson reports.