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Waikato Hospital staff told to speak English only

www.rnz.co.nz Waikato Hospital staff told to speak English only

A memo sent to all nursing staff in Waikato was clearly aimed at Indian, Filipino and Pasifika nurses, a doctor says, while nurses say it "reeks of systemic racism".

Waikato Hospital staff told to speak English only

This is the thin end of the wedge. Whichever racist PoS manager at TWO whom sent this is simply emboldened by our current racist PoS government. It gets worse from here.

Objectively, even to the stupidst person, that a distressed patient and stressed nurse will be most effective when using a shared native language in interactions with the patient.

Communication with the rest of the staff obviously should be in the common language.

It's extra stupid because while we can assume a nurse has competency in English there's no guarantee the patient or patient's support does.

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  • I would like to give some benefit of the doubt with regard to intent since the memo itself doesn't specifically say they can't talk to patients in their own language, and I can imagine scenarios where a staff member doesn't know what is happening because discussions are happening in a language they don't speak.

    But... holy shit, how could you write a memo like this and not expect to end up in the media? It's like the person writing it can't imagine a world where English isn't the best language for all circumstances.

    I feel like there is potentially a problem but management lacks the problem solving skills to come up with a real solution.