Southern region nurse recruitment falls short, new Health Minister quiet on hospital plans

There is still no guidance from the Government on when it will decide what direction it will take on building the new southern region hospital.

The present Government has previously said it will not fund the full, original plans for a new tertiary hospital in Dunedin, because of the cost blow-out, estimated at $3 billion.

Instead, it is proposing to either redevelop the existing hospital or scale back the build of a new site within a budget of $1.9 billion.

Since that announcement in September, last year, Shane Reti has been replaced as Health Minister by Simeon Brown.

However, Mr Brown did not elaborate on progress when contacted by Crux this week.

“Decisions on the new Dunedin Hospital will be made and communicated in due course,” he said.

Meanwhile, official information supplied to Crux show the region is short about 30 nurses.

Replying to an Official Information Act request from Crux, Health New Zealand Chief Nurse Jane Wilson said as of November 30, 2024, there were 98.5 FTE nursing vacancies across the Southern district. 

“For context, there are 2,259.6 FTE nursing staff budgeted to recruit to across Southern.

“Of these 98.5 FTE vacancies, 70FTE are now filled with new graduate nurses (88 headcount) commencing between January and March 2025. This leaves 28.5 FTE openings at this time.”

Main image (File Photo): Health Minister Simeon Brown.