10 Oct 2023

Nurse training facility sits empty, despite sector shortages

From Nine To Noon, 9:05 am on 10 October 2023

For over a year the $2m Healthcare Academy of New Zealand run by Yoobee Colleges has been sitting empty - even as thousands of more nurses are needed in the health sector. It's down to what operator Yoobee Colleges describes as a 'technicality' that requires education providers to offer a Bachelor of Nursing as well.

The Nursing Council, the body which regulates nurse training told Nine to Noon it wouldn't comment on individual providers' accreditation processes, but it did say a review of the enrolled nurse scope of practice was underway.

Yoobee Colleges says that's going to take time - perhaps another year. And it says it's ironic that enrolled nurses trained at its partner facilities in Australia face no delay to getting jobs in New Zealand. Kathryn speaks to Yoobee Colleges' CEO Ana Maria Rivera about the situation, and the Nurses Organisation's kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku.

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Photo: 123RF