Two weeks ago, it was revealed that nurses at Waikato Hospital were told to speak only English with patients and colleagues. Two managers at the hospital sent a memo to all nursing staff which said that there had been concerns about other languages being used. The memo said that only using English in all clinical settings was safer for treating people.

There was a strong reaction to this directive. A doctor at Waikato Hospital said that the memo was aimed at Indian, Filipino and Pasifika nurses, who work very hard in stressful situations but were now being discriminated against. The union for nurses, the Nurses Organisation, said that the memo was unacceptable and that foreign nurses should not be prevented from speaking their first language because it is against human rights.

It was also revealed that similar memos were sent to nursing staff at Palmerston North hospital last year and in the intensive care unit at Christchurch Hospital earlier this year.

Soon after the memo at Waikato Hospital became public, the Minister of Health responded, saying that nurses should be able to speak their first language to each other and/ or to patients when it is clinically safe to do so. The chief executive of Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand issued a memo stating that clear communication is very important in healthcare but that that communication could be in English or another language. Thus, it is now clear that nurses can use their own professional judgement regarding when to speak English or their own language.

New Zealand had a shortage of nurses in recent years, particularly after the Covid-19 pandemic, and hundreds of international nurses have come here recently. Now, 44% of nurses in New Zealand are foreign-trained. It is fortunate that they are here as hospitals really need these nurses, so it is important that they feel valued in their workplaces. In addition, it can be an advantage to have nurses who speak other languages as well as English, as some patients do not have English as their first language.

Vocabulary

directive – an official order or instruction

patient (noun) – someone who is sick and sees a doctor or goes to hospital

memo – a short official note from one person to others in the same organisation

clinical – relating to a hospital or clinic, or relating to treating people who are sick

settings – situations

               clinical settings – situations where people are being treated

intensive care unit – a department in a hospital for people who are very sick or injured