Source: Radio New Zealand
The redundancies were forced on Health NZ by government cuts, says the PSA. RNZ
Spending millions on redundancy payouts for non-clinical staff at Health NZ is a “disgraceful waste of money”, says the PSA union.
Te Whatu Ora made nearly $58 million in redundancy payouts between late 2023 and 2025.
In total, $57.91 million in payments for voluntary redundancies and early exits for non-clinical staff were made between 1 November 2023 and 31 December 2025, according to figures released under the Official Information Act to the PSA union.
PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimmons said the union estimated the agency let go about 2800 workers through cuts and voluntary redundancies during this time.
She said the non-clinical staff such as IT experts and administrators were still desperately needed in the public health system.
“We’ve lost administrators, we’ve lost IT experts, we’ve lost analysts, we’ve lost people that support training of health professionals – all people who played a critical role in our health system, who have more to give and who will be missed.”
Fitzsimmons said the $58 million in payouts was a “disgraceful waste of public money”, that will have “costs on our health system for years to come”.
She said the redundancies were forced on Health NZ by government cuts, citing major cuts in the agency’s IT department last year as one example.
“Everyday, we’ll see the cost of these departures in IT failures, in longer waiting lists, and in clinicians needing to do more of their own administrative and clerical work at the expense of seeing patients.”
Health Minister Simeon Brown said the government’s priority was ensuring more resources are directed to frontline care, rather than “back-office bureacracy”.
He said fewer New Zealanders were waiting for elective surgery or a first specialist assessment than at the start of last year, emergency department wait times are improving, along with childhood immunisation rates.
“This progress is being supported by significant workforce growth, including around 2000 additional nurses and hundreds more doctors employed by Health New Zealand since 2023.”
A Health NZ spokesperson said voluntary redundancy was a choice staff could make based on their own circumstances.
“Changes that have been made within Health NZ are part of an ongoing effort toward a more sustainable future for healthcare.
“We want to ensure our resources and people are organised to strengthen and support the front-line so more New Zealanders get the right healthcare when and where they need it.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
