The Green Party is calling for the Government to direct Te Whatū Ora to fill vacant roles in healthcare services as quickly as possible, and to fund them to do so.
“The PSA provided damning evidence that the Minister of Health has knowingly weaponised the bureaucracy to slow the recruitment of health workers as a cost saving measure," says Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson.
“The refusal to invest in our frontline health services means Te Whatū Ora are deliberately delaying filling clinical roles to save money. Patients across Aotearoa are paying the price for this."
“While newborn babies wait in intensive care, the Health Minister is taking hundreds of millions of dollars that should be used for our public health system and giving it to private, for-profit providers.”
"It’s appalling to see that more than three quarters of staff have had to wait more than a month to get approval to fill a vacancy, including delays to staff three neo-natal intensive care unit nurses at Capital, Coast and Hutt Valley hospitals.”
"The Minister was warned in a briefing that in order to save money, some clinical roles would be delayed or not recruited until the end of the 2025/2026 economic year."
"This Government has consistently said that they would not cut front line services to balance the budget. This report shows the real-world cost of this Government’s reckless cuts to funding of our critical public services."
"A Green Government would mean a properly funded healthcare system that support staff and ensures everyone gets access to the care they need. We urge the Minister to reverse these restrictions to staffing and hire the healthcare workers we need," says Davidson.
