87 First Avenue, Tauranga 3110 PO Box 13225, Tauranga 3141 P: (07) 577 3190 | wboppho.org.nz
3 September 2021 WBOP PHO deployment of Nurses to support COVID Response
Dear Practice Managers
We have been pleased to be able to offer nursing staff to support the surge in demand for Covid19related services, such as swabbing, vaccinating and covering for frontline staff who are yet to be fully vaccinated. This capacity has been the result of careful redeployment of PHO nursing resources whilst the sector is responding and adjusting to the current pandemic environment. WBoPPHO has a small nursing team with a variable range of specific skills and expertise. The PHO is committed to maintaining its core services and supporting primary care to deliver safe, equitable and high-quality healthcare. Whilst nursing services have been redeployed to practices as needed in response to the sudden move to Level 4 Lockdown on August 17th, such measures are unable to be sustained at the current capacity beyond the initial emergency-response period. Therefore, the PHO wishes to advise that redeployed PHO nursing staff who have been provided to practices since August 17th will continue to be available at no cost to practices for a total period of up to four weeks, through to no later than Wednesday September 15th, on the assumption we remain at least within Alert Level 3. An immediate reassessment of the current situation will occur should we drop below Level 3 prior to Wednesday, 18 September 2021. If PHO nursing services are required by practices beyond this period, such need will be assessed and managed on a case-by-case basis following discussion with General Practice Liaison and Clinical Services Lead. It should also be noted that none of the PHO Nursing Team are currently contracted to work on weekends. As such, should redeployment include weekend work, the PHO incurs an additional cost for those specific deployments due to weekend penalty rates being applied. With the demand for the initial resurgence response now dissipated, our nurses will be back to their regular hours and won’t therefore be available for further weekend work at this time. We will of course remain agile and responsive should a further resurgence response be required.
Ngā mihi
Lindsey Webber, CEO
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