Nursing numbers have gone backwards in Taranaki and Manawatū on National's watch, showing a health workforce being run down while patients wait longer for care.

“There are nearly 12 fewer nurses in Taranaki since March 2024, and 25 fewer in Manawatū, while Kiwi graduate nurses have struggled to get jobs in New Zealand," Labour campaign chair Kieran McAnulty said.

"Christopher Luxon said his secret cuts wouldn’t affect the frontline but this is a health crisis of the Government's own making.

"You cannot cut, freeze and restructure your way to a functioning hospital. Every nursing role not filled is another shift short-staffed, another delayed discharge, another patient waiting on a ward that can't take them.

"National has spent the term telling communities everything is fine.

"Nurses aren't leaving because they've stopped caring. They're leaving because they're exhausted, underpaid and unsupported, and because this Government has made it clear it isn't listening.

"Christopher Luxon needs to front up to Taranaki and Manawatū and explain how they're going to staff their hospitals, because right now, there's no plan and our regions can’t afford another three years of this.

“Labour will invest in better jobs, affordable healthcare and bringing household costs under control, so people can get ahead and build a future here at home,” said Kieran McAnulty.