Filipinos miss out on jobs as NZ nurses
By REBECCA TODD
Trained Filipino nurses are paying thousands of dollars to colleges and recruitment agencies in the hope of well-paid jobs in Christchurch public hospitals, only to become trapped in low-paid care work. However, the colleges insist they are helping foreign-trained nurses get registered in New Zealand, with English-language skills a major stumbling block.
New Zealand Nurses’ Organisation (NZNO) industrial adviser Rob Haultain said training colleges were using overseas recruiters to bring in large numbers of Filipino nurses as students. They paid thousands of dollars to immigration agents in the belief they would earn $50,000 in New Zealand as a nurse.
Instead, they were being funnelled into aged-care courses and ended up working in rest homes for $30,000.
The Filipinos cannot register as nurses in New Zealand until they pass a demanding International English Language Testing System (IELTS) examination.
Haultain said Filipino nurses in Christchurch had reported being bonded to work for several years by rest homes, which paid their tuition fees.
In the North Island, one nurse had her passport taken from her by an employer. This was later ruled illegal after an employment hearing.
The Counties Manukau District Health Board became so concerned about the reported exploitation, it signed a deal with a Philippines government agency last month to bring nurses direct from the Philippines, cutting out private agents.
The nursing union was also concerned about links between overseas recruiters, Christchurch colleges and the rest homes nurses were fed to.
Haultain believed there was no need for trained nurses to do the Aged Care Education (Ace) courses offered by Christchurch-based King’s Education Ltd and Canterbury Link College.
“The national certificate of learning in aged care is superior in our opinion, if you do any training at all,” he said.
Haultain said the Filipino nurses could not return home, because they had a huge debt to pay, or swap jobs, as their work visas were for caregiving.
“It really distresses us that we know people are … not treated fairly,” Haultain said.
However, course providers say they are helping overseas nurses into a New Zealand career path.
The co-founder and former joint managing director of national residential care provider Ryman Healthcare, John Ryder, is also chairman of King’s Education Ltd.
He is also chairman of the Health Education Trust, which produced and owns the Ace programmes.
These programmes, along with English courses, are offered by King’s Education and Canterbury Link to foreign nurses wanting work in New Zealand.
The King’s website says it has “extensive contacts” with employers in the aged-care industry and can assist graduates in finding employment.
Ryder said King’s Education was primarily an English-language school.
Students were encouraged to take a 24-week English course, at a cost of more than $8000, aimed at getting their nursing registration.
But many opted for the shorter course with a mix of English and aged-care education.
“The majority go into caregiving roles at first because that’s where the jobs are,” he said.
Christchurch had the most caregiver vacancies in New Zealand in an industry already plagued by recruitment difficulties and high staff turnover.
Although the training was not strictly necessary, having a New Zealand qualification was an advantage for students when applying for jobs and work visas, he said.
King’s did not have formal contracts with any rest homes and students could work wherever they chose, he said.
However, he knew of employers bonding students to work for a period of time if they had paid for a nurse’s education and competency courses “in order to make those cost outlays worthwhile”.
Ryder said he had not had any complaints from students about being overcharged or mistreated by foreign agents or employers.
It was standard for an English school to use overseas agents and to pay these agents a fee, he said.
Canterbury Link College pastoral care officer July Caneja said the college took in 10 to 20 students for its Ace courses each month. Ninety-eight per cent were Filipinos.
The college had registered education agents in the Philippines recruiting for the school, she said.
“This is a pathway for nurses to get registration and exposure in the New Zealand healthcare system,” she said.
The nurses could “breeze through” the competency tests, but many were stuck on the English exam.
Until they passed the IELTS exam, they worked as “healthcare assistants” in rest homes.
Caneja said the college did not have contracts with any residential homes but helped students find employment with them.
A Department of Labour spokesman said it was “difficult to determine expectations given to applicants by consultancies”, but it had “ongoing concern about the quality of advice given to potential migrants by immigration advisers”.
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December 5th, 2008 02:46
wow! you got all your Christchurch facts right. some of these nurses even had to engage in farming and cleaning jobs while waiting for their work permits just to survive. Some would like to go home but can’t do so because of their unpaid debts. There are heathcare assistants who work with the so called “bureaus”and they go on duties in different facilities around Christchurch on “on call” basis only and most of the time don’t get enough hours of shifts since there are too many of them for the bureau to accomodate.