By Petrina Wright | Posted: Thursday November 23, 2023
Congratulations to Reena Raju, Peacehaven Village’s most recently New Zealand-qualified registered nurse.
Reena, an internationally qualified nurse (IQN) from India, became New Zealand-qualified in October.
Before joining Enliven, she had worked for nine years as a nurse in ICU and emergency departments in India and Saudi Arabia.
“I am learning new skills, as aged care is a new area of experience for me,” she said.
Peacehaven Village manager Ronette Bolivar said Reena was one of five care home’s IQNs to have become New Zealand registered nurses, along with four staff who had been working in caregiving roles.
“They have been able to see the transition from caregiving through to nursing and they know our routine and what it is like to be nurse in aged care in New Zealand.”
In recent years, PSS’s Enliven service had found it difficult to recruit registered nurses.
Enliven had traditionally relied on international nurses to staff its care homes, as New Zealand nurses were not typically attracted to the sector. But, with the COVID-19 pandemic and New Zealand’s borders closed for a time, Enliven had been unable to access this labour market.
To overcome this, management had identified health care workers on staff who were IQNs and helped make the process to become New Zealand-qualified easier and more accessible for them.
Ronette said she was confident Peacehaven Village would be fully staffed with registered nurses (RNs) when the four remaining IQNs became New Zealand-qualified next year.
“I am really happy that we have gone through this process of employing them from overseas and that we are now in this strong position.
“I am very proud of the calibre of the nurses we have here at Peacehaven.”
IQNs who are currently registered with an overseas regulatory authority and meet Nursing Council requirements may apply to become registered to practise in New Zealand. To do so, they must complete the Competence Assessment Programme, which for Southland nurses is run by Otago Polytechnic.