National’s Health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti has levelled a scathing accusation at Immigration Minister Michael Wood, alleging that he wilfully ignored pleas of a health sector workforce crisis dating back more than a year.

It follows the Government’s announcement yesterday allowing 32 health sector roles to go on the green list, straight to residents’ pathway.

According to Dr Reti, the health sector has been calling for more workforce support for over a year, yet the Labour Government took too long to act.

He criticised Wood’s response on Newstalk ZB when questioned on why key health roles weren’t added to the green list sooner.

Wood said “These weren’t necessarily roles previously, we we’ve had a lot of advocacy around that. So we’ve sat down, we’ve worked through with the health sector.”

Dr Reti described the Immigration Minister as “clearly out of touch with the rest of the country and his own Cabinet.”

Official documents released under the Official Information Act show that the Ministry of Health requested that key health roles, such as dentists, pharmacists, physiotherapists, and social workers, be added to the green list in February 2022.

Dr Reti demanded that the Immigration Minister explain why his government refused to add these essential roles for well over a year.

He noted that all 20 District Health Boards sent an urgent letter to officials in July 2021 warning of impending health workforce shortages and requesting immediate changes to immigration settings.

However, the Labour Government refused to act he said.

Dr Reti expressed dismay that while countries like Australia and Canada were offering health workers easier immigration access, New Zealand, in contrast, was not taking the necessary steps to become an attractive destination for essential workers.

With winter fast approaching, Dr Reti accused the Labour Government of providing too little, too late, and warned that New Zealanders would suffer the consequences of inaction.