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Labour MP Ingrid Leary.
photo: VNP/Phil Smith
Labour’s mental health spokesman said the government’s claim that there was no freeze on frontline recruitment was disingenuous.
Taieri MP Ingrid Leary said she had been contacted by staff to say some vacant frontline positions had not been filled for months and some care adverts had been pulled.
Te Whatu Ora disputed those claims and said it was recruiting frontline staff.
The letter, seen by RNZ and appearing to be written by staff at the New Zealand Ministry of Health, said it was a “blatant lie” that frontline workers had not been affected by the freeze.
“All nursing positions have been removed from the Te Whatu Ora South website except for one general job advert,” one message read.
“My colleague, a registered nurse, left Te Whatu Ora nine weeks ago. My manager submitted the job application as normal. The process from application to job advert used to take 2-3 weeks.
“It is a blatant lie for the government and Te Whatu Ora to claim that frontline services have not been affected. I am sure there are many, possibly hundreds of these cases across the country … it is ridiculous and dangerous.”
Meanwhile, Hamish Brown, operations director at Southern Group, said in an email to all staff in June that they were developing a process to support the prioritisation of patient-facing roles.
“More information will be provided next on how the organization is pausing all current and new hiring for hospital positions, particularly those that are non-patient facing but still have an impact on patient care, and non-community facing public health positions.”
Leary said morale was extremely low — “probably the lowest the district has ever seen.”
“It’s disingenuous to say there’s no hiring freeze on frontline staff when there are huge gaps in frontline staff, the positions appear to have been taken down for advertising, no hiring appears to have taken place and (staff who emailed her) said they were being given two different messages by the left and right,” she said.
“The minister said there would be no hiring freeze on frontline staff, but what they are seeing on the ground is a hiring freeze.”
The New Zealand Ministry of Health refuted this claim, saying No freeze on hiring for frontline positionsincluding mental health and addiction services.
“Currently, the only hiring pauses are for non-patient facing hospital positions and non-community facing public health positions,” a spokesperson said.
“There is no pause in recruitment for clinical positions. Around 3300 people across the country have accepted offers from the New Zealand Ministry of Health for April-May 2024. These include 1242 nurses, 501 paramedical professionals, 201 resident medical officers and 169 senior medical officers.”
They say recruiting for clinical positions has moved closer to the front lines.
“This means that recruitment decisions are made with the best understanding and prioritisation of local needs. Staff and patient safety and clinical delivery remain key factors when making these decisions.”
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey said he had met with Te Whatu Ora chief executive Margie Apa “and made clear my desire to continue recruiting people into mental health and addiction roles”.
He said he had been assured the hiring freeze would not affect frontline mental health work.
“I have also been assured that other government priorities such as the growing workforce of psychology and psychiatrists will not be affected as they are seen as vital.”
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