Professor Jenny Carryer.
School of Nursing professor Jenny Carryer has been appointed a companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to health, particularly nursing.
Professor Carryer’s 40-year career spans academia and working in the health sector, including her role as the executive director of the College of Nurses Aotearoa for 27 years, which she says has given her a “wonderful cross section of all aspects of the health system, health workforce and nursing as a discipline".
Her interests include primary health care nursing, long-term conditions and workforce development, especially the nurse practitioner role.
Dr Carryer says she is honoured to be recognised in 2020 given it is the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, as designated by the World Health Organisation.
“My appointment is a lovely recognition of nursing being central to the changes we need to make in health going into the future.”
She says her aim is to shift thinking and grow understanding around the benefits of investing in nursing.
“The current view is that nursing is a bottom line that can be pruned. District health boards still have a focus on trying to save money on nursing services, yet my research and international research shows that that is short-sighted. Investment in nursing pays dividends across a range of health service settings from hospitals to communities.
“There is a huge amount of underutilised potential in the nursing workforce and it is my passion to see the potential fully utilised.”
Her latest honour comes on top of her appointment as a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2000.
Former Massey University professor of public policy Marilyn Waring has also been appointed dame companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to women and economics. Dame Waring was made a companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2008.