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Over 1300 unvaccinated DHB staff stood down

Author
Adam Pearse, NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Wed, 17 Nov 2021, 7:24PM
Photo / File
Photo / File

Over 1300 unvaccinated DHB staff stood down

Author
Adam Pearse, NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Wed, 17 Nov 2021, 7:24PM

More than 1300 district health board staff have been stood down because they were not vaccinated by Monday. 

As at 9am today, 1309 unvaccinated staffers in the total DHB workforce of roughly 80,000 had been stood down after not meeting the Government's vaccination mandate, which dictated all DHB staff must have had their first dose by 11.59pm on Monday. 

Waikato DHB had the highest number of staff stood down, with 154, followed by Bay of Plenty (123) and Counties Manukau (119). 

However, the DHBs with the highest proportion of unvaccinated staff stood down were Northland, Taranaki, Nelson-Marlborough and West Coast - all on 4 per cent. 

Respectively, the four DHB had stood down 105, 54, 110 and 10 staff. 

The overwhelming majority of stood-down staff - where their employment was named - were nurses at 463. 

A total of 723 staff had been defined as "other" - which applied to staff of a particular role of which less than three staff had been stood down, in an effort to protect their privacy. 

The remainder of the defined roles for unvaccinated staff included senior medical officers, midwives and registered medical officers. 

DHBs spokeswoman Rosemary Clements said DHBs were consulting with unvaccinated staff who had been stood down to answer any questions they might have, discuss other options such as redeployment, support them through the process and encourage them to consider vaccination. 

If staff chose to be vaccinated while they were stood down, they would be able to return to work. 

"We have engaged and agreed with the health sector unions on the processes we are following." 

She said service delivery impacts would vary between DHBs and mitigations were in place where needed to minimise any impact to services. 

"Our absolute focus is on ensuring continuity of patient care." 

An update on how many staff would be leaving DHBs due to their unvaccinated status would be provided next week. 

Full breakdown 

Northland: 
Total: 105  
Nurses: 37   
Senior medical officers: 3  
Midwives: 8  
Other: 57  
Proportion of staff: 4 per cent 

Waitematā: 
Total: 96  
Nurses: 22  
Senior medical officers: 4  
Registered medical officers: 11  
Midwives: 6  
Other: 53  
Proportion of staff: 2 per cent 

Auckland: 
Total: 68  
Nurses: 20 
Senior medical officers: 3  
Other: 45  
Proportion of staff: 1 per cent 

Counties Manukau: 
Total: 119  
Nurses: 47  
Doctors: 4  
Midwives: 10  
Other: 58  
Proportion of staff: 2 per cent 

Waikato: 
Total: 154  
Nurses: 65  
Senior medical officers: 6  
Registered medical officers: 3  
Midwives: 10  
Other: 70  
Proportion of staff: 2 per cent 

Bay of Plenty: 
Total: 123  
Nurses: 42 
Senior medical officers: 4  
Midwives: 6  
Other: 71   
Proportion of staff: 3 per cent 

Lakes: 
Total: 42  
Nurses: 23  
Midwives: 4 
Other: 15  
Proportion of staff: 2 per cent 

Tairāwhiti: 
Total: 23  
Nurses: 10  
Other: 13  
Proportion of staff: 0 per cent (this is being checked) 

Taranaki: 
Total: 54  
Nurses: 20  
Midwives: 3 
Other: 31  
Proportion of staff: 4 per cent 

Hawke's Bay: 
Total: 51  
Nurses: 17 
Other: 34  
Proportion of staff: 2 per cent 

Whanganui: 
Total: 30  
Nurses: 9  
Other: 21 
Proportion of staff: 3 per cent 

MidCentral: 
Total: 43  
Nurses: 14  
Midwives: 3  
Other: 26  
Proportion of staff: 2 per cent 

Wairarapa: 
Total: 6  
Nurses: 4  
Other: 2  
Proportion of staff: 2 per cent 

Capital & Coast: 
Total: 84  
Nurses: 34  
Midwives: 8 
Other: 42 
Proportion of staff: 2 per cent 

Hutt Valley: 
Total: 36  
Nurses: 11  
Registered medical officers: 4  
Midwives: 3  
Other: 18 
Proportion of staff: 2 per cent 

Nelson/Marlborough:  
Total: 110 
Nurses: 33 
Other: 77  
Proportion of staff: 4 per cent 

Canterbury: 
Total: 79  
Nurses: 23  
Doctors: 4  
Other: 52  
Proportion of staff: 2 per cent 

West Coast: 
Total: 10  
Nurses: 4 
Other: 6  
Proportion of staff: 4 per cent 
 
South Canterbury  
Total: 7 
Other: 7  
Proportion of staff: 1 per cent 

Southern: 
Total: 69  
Nurses: 28  
Senior medical officers: 4  
Registered medical officers: 6  
Midwives: 6  
Other: 25    
Proportion of staff: 2 per cent 

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