Ministry of Health confirms it will cut 123 jobs

“At the very time when our health system is under pressure from a growing and ageing population, and as the cost of medical technology grows, we should be investing in the very ministry that provides the expert advice and support needed for an effective health system”

The Ministry of Health will axe 123 jobs as part of its latest round of cost-cutting. 

The affected staff were notified of the decision in a meeting at 11am this morning. 

In April, a leaked report from the ministry showed it was considering cutting 134 jobs and slashing $78 million from its budget. The consultation on the proposed cutbacks closed on 26 April and the ministry was expected to release its final decision this month.  

In a statement, director-general of health Diana Sarfati says the ministry is working to support people affected by the cuts.  

“The total number of people who will leave the ministry as a result of these changes will not be known until after 2 September. The ministry has been, and continues to, have support available to staff through our employee assistance programme…This continues to be an unsettling time for the ministry.” 

According to the ministry’s annual review to Parliament, as of 30 June last year it had 754 employees.

In a statement, Public Service Association assistant secretary Fleur Fitzsimons says the cuts will affect one in six positions at the ministry.  

“Our heart goes out to impacted workers whose lives are being turned upside down in health and across the public sector as the Government continues on its rushed and reckless campaign of spending cuts,” Ms Fitzsimons says. 

According to the PSA, specialist teams supporting clinical, community, and mental health have been downsized. Cuts involve clinical leadership and the team responsible for the protection and rights of those receiving compulsory mental health treatment. 

“At the very time when our health system is under pressure from a growing and ageing population, and as the cost of medical technology grows, we should be investing in the very ministry that provides the expert advice and support needed for an effective health system.”

The PSA says the ministry is continuing with plans to downgrade full-time roles at the Suicide Prevention Office but has reversed the decision to remove the director’s role. 

“We welcome the ministry rethinking this decision and retaining suicide-prevention leadership. But there is still an overall reduction in full-time specialist staff – the responsibility for suicide-prevention work will now be just a quarter of the workload of other staff in the mental health and addiction policy area. We hope the importance of this vital work is not diminished in this restructure,” Ms Fitzsimons says.

The PSA also raised concerns about the decision to cut the full-time Māori senior advisor role in the Suicide Prevention Office. 

“What this all amounts to is a serious loss of specialist health expertise that helps the health system meet the needs of New Zealanders. This is yet another example of the high price to pay for the Government’s misguided plan to downsize the public service and fund tax cuts.” 

The leaked report outlining the cuts also highlighted financial problems at the ministry. Titled A future focused Ministry: Proposal for changes to the organisational structure of Manatū Hauora, it states: “We acknowledge that these proposed changes mean approximately 27 per cent of the ministry would be directly affected or impacted. Given the scale of the change proposed, we anticipate that the consequences would be felt widely across the ministry. 

“The ministry’s establishment is not affordable. In recent years, we have been able to manage our budget, including when there were unexpected demands on our resources, such as the COVID-19 response and the health system reforms.  

“Time-limited funding for some activities is now coming to an end, which means we have limited opportunities for transferring funding into the next financial year. We have to reduce our overall spending, working within a significantly smaller budget year on year.”  

At the time, the Government had requested the ministry find savings of 6.5 per cent from its baseline funding, which equates to an average of $12.6 million a year from 2024/25.