National has hired just 54 nurses in two years, and now it wants nursing schools to train fewer nurses altogether.
“The health system is in crisis and now the Government wants to stop training more nurses,” Labour campaign chair Kieran McAnulty said.
“Think about how ridiculous that is. We have nurses graduating and struggling to find jobs, patients waiting for care, and hospitals under pressure, yet National’s answer is to train fewer nurses.
“Labour wants to build up our health workforce, while National runs it down. National is cutting training for nurses. Labour will not.
“Labour will offer every eligible New Zealand-trained graduate nurse a job in our health system, while National has left graduate nurses high and dry without jobs, only to leave for Australia.
"This is a government that has completely lost the plot on health workforce planning. Labour has a plan for nurses right here in New Zealand.
“You cannot run a health system without nurses. You cannot cut your way to better care by shutting the door on the next generation of nurses.
“National has spent three years making a mess of our health system. Now it’s telling nursing schools to scale back the very workforce we desperately need.
“New Zealand needs a government that backs our nurses, gets graduates into jobs and makes sure our hospitals have the staff to care for patients. National has failed on all three.
“We can’t afford three more years of National,” Kieran McAnulty said.
