95bFM Academic: Persistent job cuts to Te Whatu Ora can stall career progression for nurses
16 January, 2026
Interview and article by Vihan Dalal
Cuts in Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand have resulted in over 2,000 healthcare professionals losing their jobs. This can also stall career progression for nurses and reduce safeguards for both patients and nurses, according to University of Auckland’s Andrew Jull.
Persistent job cuts in Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand can hinder career progression for nurses, and leave fewer safeguards for patients and staff.
New analysis released by the Public Service Association (PSA) shows that the government’s funding cuts to Te Whatu Ora have resulted in 30 restructures over the past two years.
The slashed funding has resulted in 2,100 healthcare workers losing their jobs, and another 640 opting for voluntary redundancy as a result. In a survey conducted last year by the PSA of 1,300 health workers, 81% say the cuts have damaged healthcare, and 86% say the cuts will make it harder for people to get into the healthcare profession.
Professor of Nursing at the University of Auckland, Andrew Jull, told 95bFM’s The Wire that the job cuts have made career progression difficult for nurses in the industry.
“It means that there's no career progression. And what I mean by that is, if you have a look at what's being advertised internally at the moment, in terms of jobs, only mental health vacancies are being advertised. And so, for the wider nursing community who are involved in physical health care, there are no opportunities to move and expand their experiences outside of the mental health domain.”
Hospital understaffing due to the cuts can create unsafe environments, and “it means that there are fewer staff on the floor. That means that there's going to be fewer mental health interventions undertaken. It means that the patients and the staff are themselves unsafe from those people who are having acute psychotic episodes.”
New Zealand’s ability to respond to pandemics might also be affected. Jull says the cuts contradict the recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic, which recommended strengthening public health preparedness. The report also states that publicly funded health services face challenges with workforce capacity, financial deficits, and long waiting lists for some planned healthcare.
Another report from the University of Auckland’s School of Population Health for the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists states that New Zealand’s publicly mandated health expenditure as a percentage of GDP in 2023 was between 10.2% and 10.4%, not taking into account the spending for Covid-19, which would have increased the figure to 11%. New Zealand’s healthcare spending has declined among the 16 OECD countries it was compared to between 2012 and 2018. This decline has contiued into the 2020s, resulting in an underfunded healthcare sector for over a decade.
“We know from evidence the PSA secured through the Official Information Act that Health NZ is failing to recruit people fast enough to fill vacancies - from medical imaging technologists to IT experts, all adding to a system under severe pressure,” says the PSA’s National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons.
According to an Official Information Act request by the PSA and obtained by 95bFM, Te Whatu Ora had listed almost 500 vacancies for the Capital, Coast, and Hutt Valley across departments, including radiology, ophthalmology, administration, and Registered Nurse positions as well.
Jull has called for growth in the healthcare sector to meet the country’s population demands.
“We need to be growing healthcare, given the threats that our global community create and given that our population is growing. It makes no sense at all to cut healthcare when you've got a growing population,”
