Simeon Brown has had three years to get the basics right. Instead, hospitals are under huge pressure with hundreds of nursing roles vacant.

“Today he announced a minuscule 0.5% increase in staffing, after two years of a hiring freeze,” Labour Health spokesperson Dr Ayesha Verrall said.

“This is not a plan. This is panic.

“First the Government denied there was a hiring freeze. Then Simeon Brown said 2,300 nurses would be hired by Christmas. Now we know what he’s really offering: just 380 new positions.

“The Midland region only gets 32 new staff when Tauranga Hospital ED staff have declared a state of emergency, patients have died waiting to be seen in understaffed Waikato ED and Gisborne ED is also critically understaffed.

“For months nurses and doctors have been warning Simeon Brown hospitals are under pressure. Patients are waiting in corridors, staffing gaps are putting pressure on frontline teams, and health workers are saying they are at breaking point.

“Now, after all those warnings, Simeon Brown is doing the bare minimum.

“That is not getting ahead of the problem. It is playing catch-up.

“The Minister has spent two years denying there is a hiring freeze while frontline workers pleaded for action.

“New Zealanders shouldn’t have to wait for a healthcare crisis before the Health Minister acts.

“Frontline health workers deserve a Minister who listens to their warnings. Patients deserve a Labour Government that acts before hospitals reach crisis point,” Ayesha Verrall said