Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Labour says the government's decision to cut jobs in the health care sector is hurting frontline services and harming patients, following a worrying survey released.
Four out of five health workers reported cuts and restructuring had damaged the services they deliver, which the PSA said refutes the government's claims the cuts won't affect the front-line.
Health New Zealand is trying to cut $660 million this year, through voluntary redundancies, the "consolidation of roles" and "streamlining" departments such as finance, HR, data and digital, and infrastructure and investment.
Former chief executive Margie Apa said in 2024 that it would be extending its cost cutting to last three years and signalling more voluntary redundancies, while reporting a deficit of more than $700 million.
The union said Health New Zealand had restricted hiring since June 2024, with health care workers reporting significant delays trying to replace workers and some vacancies not filled at all.
86 percent of health workers say cuts will make it harder for people to get healthcare, according to a new survey. File photo. Photo: 123RF
The Government promised its cuts would not impact frontline services, however, Labour's health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall told Morning Report the survey shows that's not true.
"What these reports from people working in our health services say is 'actually, health services are being harmed by the cuts, restructuring and hiring freezes that are going on in the health system'," Verrall.
"... I don't accept the distinction the government has made between the frontline and the non-frontline. The fact is, in a variety of ways, cutting many of these crucial support roles means that New Zealanders don't get the support they need."
Verall said the government needs to stop these cuts and properly fund the health sector. She said one area she is particularly worried about is information technology, where there are "critical risks" to health services because half the department's workforce are being laid off.
"It is on such large scale and so harmful, they have to stop that," she said.
However, Health NZ acting chief executive Dr Nick Chamberlain said there was no hiring freeze.
"Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora employs a workforce of over 90,000 highly skilled and experience professionals, and this workforce does fluctuate," Chamberlain said.
He said for non-clinical roles, Health New Zealand was recruiting where the role was essential "to achieve our priorities including the health targets."
Documents obtained by the Green Party under the Official Information Act last year showed officials warned the previous Health Minister Shane Reti targets would go unmet without additional funding.
IT engineer and PSA delegate Bernd Wachter is one of about 1100 data and digital staff facing redundancy under the 'reset' proposal.
He said there was no question data and digital staff were front-line workers.
"To call Te Whatu Ora data and digital staff back room staff, and to suggest the service can function equally well with roughly half of the present staff numbers, is simply insulting to me, but most of all it's recklessly misleading the public."
Wachter said a lack of investment over time had created a "digital debt".
"Many systems are old, some are out of date, some are not compatible with current operating systems and so on, it's a problem."
He had no doubt how grave the problem will become if Health New Zealand went ahead with its proposal to halve his team.
"If you know enough about the IT services within Health New Zealand, you can confidently predict that if the proposed cuts are implemented, people will needlessly die while in the care of Health New Zealand. This is inevitable. "
Minister of Health Simeon Brown said in a statement that from the 12 months from September 2023 to September 2024, the clinical workforce grew by over 2700 staff and that the Government would continue to invest in the frontline health workforce, rather than increasing bureaucracy.
"That's rubbish. They are hiding behind a communication strategy rather then really fronting up about what's going on in our health system," Verrall said.
She said the clinical workforce hires are "by the by" when considering the scale of cuts.
Public Service Association acting national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said it is a "dangerous distinction" to talk about frontline and non- frontline workers.
"Health workers are our health system. What we are seeing in this report is malnourished cancer patients not getting seen by a dietician before they undergo surgery, stroke patients not getting rehabilitation when they need it, children and babies not getting cleft and lip palate surgery done quickly enough. We need to see from the government a plan to fix this mess."
She told Morning Report the cuts were "driving down moral and driving up workloads".
"... This seems to be a government focussed on saving dollars then saving lives," she said.
The survey found 86 percent of health workers said cuts will make it harder for people to get healthcare, while 72 percent agreed health was underfunded.
"The survey is chilling reading for New Zealanders who have been promised by the Government's repeated rhetoric that its cuts would not impact front-line health services," Fitzsimons said.
The union is taking Health NZ to the Employment Relations Authority in an attempt to staunch the cuts, including those to the data and digital directorate, the National Public Health Service and the Pacific directorate.
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