Source: New Zealand Parliament – Hansard
ORAL QUESTIONS
QUESTIONS TO MINISTERS
Question No. 1—Health
1. BROOKE VAN VELDEN (Deputy Leader—ACT) to the Minister of Health: Does he stand by his statement regarding workforce shortages in the health sector that “there is stuff we need to do in the short term around recruitment … and then there is long term stuff, attracting people into the health services, doing the additional training”; if so, does he have targets for how many medical professionals need to be brought into the health sector through recruitment or training, to fix the workforce shortage?
Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): To the first part of the member’s question, yes. The Government’s first priority in health is addressing the skilled workforce shortages that we have at the moment. As the member will be aware, there is a nationwide health workforce dialogue with the sector, here at Parliament on Saturday, to discuss that very issue, amongst others. To the second part of the member’s question, before a role can be advertised in our public health system, it must be funded. I’m pleased to advise the House that this Government’s record investment in health has seen an extra 8,776 fulltime-equivalent roles funded in our health sector since 2017. I want to see all of the current advertised vacancies filled—that is the target.
Brooke van Velden: If he knows there’s an immediate need for more recruitment, why won’t the Government allow migrant nurses and midwives a fast-track pathway to residency to give them more certainty about their future in New Zealand, boosting recruitment?
Hon ANDREW LITTLE: We have a fast-track process for nurses and midwives and other health professionals to get a visa to come and work in our health system, public or private. Since the accredited employer work visa has been open since the beginning of July, we’ve had nearly 500 visas approved for that particular visa. Prior to that, we had the critical purpose work visa in place that started during the pandemic and closed at the end of July. That has seen thousands of workers coming here, many of whom, having been granted their visa in the early part of this year, are only now arriving. We have an open process to recruit health workers into New Zealand, and they are coming.
Brooke van Velden: Is he aware that if New Zealand had the same number of nurses per capita compared to Australia, we’d have 21,000 more nurses—or 37 percent more—and, if so, when will we see that gap close?
Hon ANDREW LITTLE: That figure has not been validated at all by anybody who understands the workforce issues that either Australia has or we have. We currently have—the current nurse complement in our health workforce is around about 30,000. The idea that we would add another 21,000 to it, apart from being an impossible thing to do, is simply not a realistic assessment of what our health needs are.
Brooke van Velden: Is it acceptable that New Zealand has been training 40 percent fewer medical professionals per capita than Australia, and, if not, does he have a target to close the gap?
Hon ANDREW LITTLE: We have record numbers of students learning how to be doctors and specialists and learning how to be nurses—record numbers in our schools and we are producing record numbers of nursing graduates. We actually have some issues with attrition rates at the final stages of our nursing courses, and that’s one of the issues that I know Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand and Te Aka Whai Ora – the Māori Health Authority are very keen to address. I am satisfied that those bodies, along with the ministry, along with other stakeholders, including the Nursing Council, are doing everything they can to make sure we maximise the number of nurses that we train here in Aotearoa New Zealand for the benefit of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Brooke van Velden: Why have paramedics been left off the immigration Green List completely, when there’s a shortage of paramedics in our country?
Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I can’t explain what has happened in relation to paramedics, except that we continue to recruit paramedics. I’m very pleased that in this year’s Budget, in addition to funding a whole swag of new ambulances and rapid-response vehicles, we’ve also funded an addition 250 ambulance crew.
Erica Stanford: Can the Minister explain why gastroenterologists, paediatricians, and oncologists were also left off the Green List, when we’re desperately short of all those specialties?
Hon ANDREW LITTLE: As I understand it, they are on the Green List.
