Overall new funding for health came in above the expected $1.37 billion injection — now at $1.45b. Most of the additional spending, however, has not been ring-fenced and could still be eaten up in the future by changing Government whims.
Meanwhile, the funding uplift would only keep the system in slower decline, a new report has revealed, while giving Māori unwanted special funding attention — literally cutting spending on the people with the highest health needs.
Funding for hauora Māori sank by $11.5m overall – with cuts to existing tamariki immunisation ($47.2m) and other health programmes, as well a $1.3m cut to maternal mental health funding. These cancelled out $37m in new funding.
‘This budget does not give me hope.’
Meanwhile, additional funding was rolled out for free bowel screenings — the minimum age to drop from 58 to 56. This follows the Coalition Government’s controversial scrapping of free screening plans for Māori and Pacific people from 50 last year.
NZNO’s college of cancer nurses chair Heather Bustin said while the further bowel screening drop didn’t achieve equity, it was a step in the right direction.
Hospital and health services saw an overall $194m decrease in funding — $95m swiped to go to primary health. Overall, primary, community, public and population health received $613m — however this falls well short of what was needed.
Pre-Budget the public health coalition Kaitiaki Hauora released a report that set a red line — $1.4b — just to keep the system in steady decline.
Meanwhile the nursing workforce in HNZ had actually shrunk, the report revealed, and was already understaffed by thousands of nurses.
The Budget’s additional funding squeaked in at $1.45b — but came in well below the numbers needed to bring the system back to health, especially in primary care and hauora Maori.
A compassionate prescription
To restart the heart of the health system, the report recommends an annual $6.8b operational funding boost across six key areas.
- Population health – $973m
- Primary care – $1.3b
- Hauora Māori – $1.7b
- Workforce – $1.6b
- Electives/planned services – $281m
- Dental health – $936m operational and $1b capital.
Chair of the NZNO college of primary health nurses Tracey Morgan said it was shocking and disgraceful to see the loss of the Immunising our Tamariki programme.
Morgan — who was in the middle of doing community vaccinations – told Kaitiaki it was “disgusting” to see the loss of that programme and lack of support for Māori.
Primary health, including population health, needed $2.3b to keep up with demand, according to the report, but only got $613m.
“This budget does not give me hope,” she said.
NZNO kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku said the Budget was a “money go-round” which left the health sector to do more with even less.
“This Budget robs Pita to pay Paul . . . Māori are left worse off after Budget 26.”
Nuku was concerned that $1.37b of the new cash wasn’t even ring-fenced — pointing out that the Government had already raided $300m from last year’s funding uplift, for unfunded projects since that Budget.
“For example, any further outsourcing of elective surgeries will have to come from this cost pressure funding. This means that core service delivery is whittled away. This is the funding which is meant to ensure the health sector can tread water.”
Meanwhile another $174m for the new scaled-down Dunedin Hospital was announced.
However funding for the new Whangārei Hospital ward tower was pushed out until 2031; and Hawke’s Bay, Palmerston North and Tauranga hospital redevelopments had funding allocated for design and enabling work which won’t be completed for years.
NZNO president Anne Daniels — an Dunedin emergency nurse — welcomed the new Dunedin Hospital funding but said more investment was needed in staffing.
“It is my hope that it will be to recruit and retain the people who would work in the hospital.”
Overall, Daniels said the Budget was “all about things, rather than people”.
Kaitiaki Hauora report fast figures
- An additional $1.4b was needed to maintain a system already declining. Anything less would just hit the accelerator on the descent.
- Workforce is one of six key areas in need of about $6.8b combined over multiple years to start reviving the health system.
- However, the latest available HNZ figures show it short 2250 nurses and 700 kaiāwhina/HCAs.
- Rather than increase its nurses, HNZ’s nursing workforce actually dipped by 400 nurses in the year to December 2025.
Written with support by NZNO policy analyst Nathalie Jaques.