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Yet Another Border Cock-up, but Hey, Let’s Keep Moving

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Michael Morrah, perhaps the only real journalist at Newshub, has busted the Government yet again, for lackadaisical border and quarantine processes.

Jacinda Ardern has campaigned, if you can call mouthing meaningless platitudes campaigning, on how grand their plan was at the border.

Yet here we are again looking at just how poorly they’ve actually done.

Newshub can reveal staff at all 18 of Auckland’s managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) hotels have been warned of a “severe” shortage of nurses.

Emails from management to staff warn the shortages are putting “considerable strain on nursing staff” and the issue is “compromising their ability” to do their jobs. Staff at the Crowne Plaza were even incorrectly advised to “conduct their own health checks” while nurses are unable to.

Part of the problem’s been caused by nurses being offered less pay, after being given new contracts and work conditions.

Des Gorman, a professor at Auckland University’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, told Newshub it represents “an obvious compromise of the border”.

“Given how important it is for us to avoid lockdowns and to maintain our current status, the border can’t be compromised,” he said.

On Sunday, management emailed staff. Their email spoke of “severe shortages of nurses across MIQF” sites. On Monday and Tuesday, shortages were still reported, with reports it was “compromising [nurses’] ability to conduct daily tasks”.

The situation at the Crowne Plaza has been of particular concern.

Newshub understands that just last week, concerns were raised that due to nursing shortages at the Crowne Plaza, nurses were unable to carry out daily health checks of all staff members arriving for work.

That meant the paperwork and thermometer was left out for staff to do themselves in an honesty box-style system.

Newshub understands staff complained there were “no instructions” on using the thermometer, and staff were “winging it”. There was also “no sanitiser” or wipes to clean the kit in between turns using it.

The DHB confirmed the issue of staff doing their own health checks at the Crowne Plaza. It says a staff member gave others “incorrect” advice that DIY checks were OK, and it’s made pretty clear that such an honesty box-style system is not good enough.

She’ll be right, don’t worry, Jacinda’s got this. Except remember when these clowns stopped the nurses moonlighting, so they could fix this.

We shouldn’t be surprised, after all these are the same clowns who couldn’t build any houses, or a tram to Mt Roskill, or end child poverty or buy EVs for the government fleet.

New Zealand is really in for an epic disaster if they are re-elected.

I doubt they’d be able to organise a piss up in a brewery or a root in a brothel.

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