Frontline health jobs at Wellington hospitals left waiting months for approval
Thursday, 27 November 2025
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Wellington hospitals are dragging their feet on hiring frontline staff, with some roles stuck in approval limbo for more than six months before recruitment can even start.
Of nearly 500 positions across Capital, Coast and Hutt Valley, about half were signed off within days to two months. But dozens of others languished for months before hospitals could even advertise.
While the Health Minister urged HealthNZ to speed up, the agency says “carefully timed” recruitment is driven by a range of factors.
The delays land as unions and the Government clash over contract negotiations, with workforce shortages, alongside pay, emerging as a major sticking point.
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The Public Service Association, which represents allied health workers and mental health nurses, asked Health NZ for data showing when hiring requests were submitted in March, April and May this year, and when they were finally approved.
The longest time between submission and approval was 30 weeks - more than six months - for a medical imaging technology in radiology and an ophthalmology medical officer. Three registered nurse roles in the neonatal intensive care unit took 28 weeks.
A range of nursing roles across the region and in hospitals took more than 24 weeks for sign off, including in the adolescent inpatient unit, at the Kenepuru accident and medical clinic, and in the Piko Ward, which is the children’s inpatient medical ward at Wellington Hospital.
Two ED nurses took 22 weeks for approval, a community mental health nurse took 20 weeks, and a registered midwife for the birthing suite 19 weeks.
Health Minister Simeon Brown said the data clearly demonstrated HealthNZ was recruiting frontline staff and that progress was reflected in growth in the workforce.
“However, Health New Zealand must move more quickly, and my expectation is that frontline vacancies are recruited to at pace,” he said.
Brown pointed the finger at what he described as “Labour’s botched merger of all DHBs into one mega-entity in the middle of a pandemic created a centralised, slow, and bureaucratic system”.
PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons called it a “disturbing snapshot of the staffing crisis health workers tell us is being replicated across the country, compromising patient care and putting workers under severe stress”.
“Dozens of teams across Wellington are waiting months for their recruitment request to just be approved internally, let alone filled.
“Allowing such long-standing vacancies in so many areas of the health system is a recipe for burnout and, eventually, even higher vacancy rates as staff quit for overseas hospitals where their skills are valued.”
Jamie Duncan of Health NZ, Capital Coast & Hutt Valley, said there were a number of reasons why recruitment “may be timed carefully”.
“This can include accommodating new graduate intakes, pausing to avoid repeated unsuccessful recruitment rounds, temporary staffing arrangements that meet short-term needs, or aligning with organisational change processes.
“We also manage recruitment volumes to ensure our teams can progress roles efficiently.”
He said in an organisation the size of Health NZ it was normal to have a significant number of vacancies at any given time, and they worked continuously “to ensure our services are safely and appropriately staffed”.
In response to Brown’s comments, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall accused the Government of delaying hiring frontline staff “to meet arbitrary cost cutting targets that do nothing to help people get the care they need”.
Health NZ is currently locked in negotiations with the PSA which represents allied health staff, mental and public health nurses, and policy workers, as well as the NZ Nurses Organisation. All were involved in last month’s mega strike and are walking off the job again on Friday.