Minister admits health system in crisis amid rural hospital staff shortages

The Health Minister admits the public health system is still in “crisis” as rural hospitals struggle with staff shortages and Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora’s financial position comes under further scrutiny.

Health Minister Dr Shane Reti promises Health New Zealand is working on how to address problems at Northland’s Dargaville Hospital, which reportedly has no doctors on site overnight and is resorting to telehealth services and transporting patients to Whangārei Hospital.

It comes as Porirua’s Kenepuru Hospital also provides telehealth services overnight when doctors aren’t available, RNZ reported.

“Look, it’s never good to not have a doctor in a hospital, that’s the reality,” Reti said.

Regarding Dargaville, Reti said Health NZ was assessing how nearby hospitals could help staff Dargaville, noting it had been challenging to do so for years. He made similar comments about Kenepuru.

In Opposition as National’s health spokesman, Reti regularly spoke of a health system in crisis under the previous Labour Government.

He today admitted it was still a crisis under his watch: “It was then, it is now.”

He couldn’t state what other hospitals might be in similar positions to Dargaville and Kenepuru.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he expected safe practices within hospitals and acknowledged workforce issues were “incredibly challenging”, but he didn’t say whether he believed conditions at Dargaville or Kenepuru were unsafe.

It added to the scrutiny being placed on Health NZ following the replacement of its board with a commissioner to address what the Government deemed the entity’s deteriorating financial position.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Health Minister Dr Shane Reti have been critical of the former Health NZ board. Photo / Ben Dickens

Despite a recent update from Commissioner Lester Levy on the entity’s cashflow, Reti was unable to clearly explain how Health NZ said it achieved a $196 million operating surplus, which was “$220m favourable to budget”, in a quarterly report in March while also finding itself in a deficit of $150m less than expected as stated in a letter to Reti from Finance Minister Nicola Willis later that month alongside an update from Health NZ chief executive Margie Apa.

“The important part here is up to March, [Health NZ] were saying they’re on track for their savings target, which was $583 million. Then on March 23, I get a letter from [Apa] saying, ‘No, they’re not’,” Reti said.

He didn’t explain how this had occurred. The Herald has sought an explanation from Reti’s office and Health NZ.

Luxon and Reti had taken aim at the former board’s financial literacy, claiming members had no understanding of cashflow within the organisation.

The then-board included former National Cabinet minister Amy Adams and former Inland Revenue chief executive Naomi Ferguson.

Luxon yesterday said Health NZ’s senior leadership was also partly to blame as they had been unable to properly brief the board.

He suggested heads could roll but said the decision was Levy’s.

A joint statement from Levy and Apa provided by Health NZ said the organisation “needs time to properly consult and support our staff who are only just finding out what the changes might mean for them”.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins continued to put pressure on Reti, claiming he should have been aware he wasn’t receiving accurate information.

Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.