Dozens of nurses picketed outside Tūhura Otago Museum yesterday for the first of two general strikes this week.
Nurses (who did not wish to be named) said the conditions were as bad as they could remember, with some departments understaffed more than 30% of the time.
A healthcare nurse said Dunedin Hospital was supposed to have four healthcare assistants on the floor in the morning, helping with daily care.
"But half the time you’ve got one, sometimes none, on a rare occasion, because you’re sitting with patients. We need a lot more assistance than that."
Another nurse, who worked in the gastric department, said she skipped morning and afternoon breaks yesterday, and barely had enough time for lunch.
"It’s exhausting, and there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight.
"I felt like I didn’t do a good job for my patients because I was rushing all day.
"I was cutting people off from conversations, not listening to them, not sorting things out that I wanted to sort out because it was too under the pump."
Retired nurse Chris Daniel said he was standing in solidarity with some of his former work colleagues.
"It takes a lot to strike, but the fact that there’s not enough staff is proven by our staffing tool.
Mr Daniels said he understood bringing Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora (HNZ) around to the nurses’ viewpoint was going to be a struggle.
"We’re trying to have any sort of decent talks.
"I think there’s been very little interest in having proper negotiations as far as I know and this [strike] is the only method we’ve got. The reasonable methods have been ignored."
HNZ chief executive Dr Dale Bramley said they would work with the New Zealand Nurses Organisation.
"We believe bargaining is the most effective way to resolve the outstanding issues, rather than strikes.
"For us, safe care in a busy hospital environment includes the skills mix of the staff, the way care is provided, strong clinical judgement, flexibility and thoughtful decision-making from our experienced leaders on the front line."
Dr Bramley said the biggest risk to patient outcomes was the waiting lists for elective surgeries, first specialist appointments and the time it took to be seen in emergency departments.
"We are actively working to reduce our waiting lists and the numbers are coming down as we boost services right across the country, but the ongoing strike action by nurses is impacting on this work."
A further strike will take place tomorrow.
