Investing in the health of New Zealanders
Every New Zealander deserves access to world-class healthcare, no matter where they live. We have a comprehensive plan to make sure this is a reality – and we’re making good progress.
Here's the latest on how we're creating a health system that New Zealand can be proud of:
- 👩⚕️ More doctors and nurses
We now have thousands more health professionals, such as doctors and nurses, working in New Zealand than when we took office in 2017. We’re training more nurses than ever, and we’ve changed immigration rules to make New Zealand one of the easiest places in the world for health workers to come to.
- 🚑 Better emergency care around the motu
We’re making sure Kiwis can get emergency healthcare when they need it, with funding for more paramedics, new ambulances and new emergency choppers around New Zealand.
- 🏥 Making sure New Zealand's health infrastructure is fit for purpose
We’re upgrading our hospitals and health infrastructure – delivering modern, functional facilities across the country – to support our frontline health workers and ensure people can get better care. On top of improving healthcare across Aotearoa, this work is also creating jobs and boosting our economy.
- 💵 Improving nurses' pay
Labour is committed to improving nurses’ pay. We’ve already increased registered nurses’ wages by about 20%, and we recently welcomed the news that Te Whatu Ora nurses will get a significant pay rise in their pockets in the new year thanks to interim pay equity rates.
- 💊 More medicines for more Kiwis
Thanks to our record funding boosts, Pharmac has been able to make more than 200 treatments available for thousands of people. Recently, Pharmac announced plans to fund Trikafta for people with cystic fibrosis, Spinraza for young people with spinal muscular atrophy, and EpiPens for severe allergy sufferers - and now, Pharmac has announced provisional agreements to fund lung cancer drugs Keytruda and Tecentriq.
- 🧠 Delivering better mental health services
We were the first Government to take mental health seriously. We’ve already made the biggest ever investment to lay the foundation for a whole new mental health and addiction system - and now, we’re boosting support for intensive mental health services and rolling our more mental wellbeing support for children.
Five years ago we inherited a health system under serious pressure after years of neglect and underinvestment, and since taking office, we’ve worked hard to turn this around. There’s no easy fix, but the actions that we’ve taken are making a real difference. Now we need to keep going.
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