Te Whatu Ora’s bill for contracting and consulting staff has ballooned by nearly 20 percent under the National Government, breaking a promise they made during the election campaign to cut contractors.

“While Te Whatu Ora has been ordered to make $2 billion in cuts and has frozen hiring to front line roles the bill for contractors has soared. At the same time key support staff are being offered redundancy and hospital builds are down-graded,” Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said.

Data released under the Official Information Act shows that costs for contractors and consultants at Te Whatu Ora have risen overall by 18 percent between Q4 2022/23 and Q4 2023/24. But this is minor compared to the eye-watering increase in People and Communications functions, the bill for which grew from $8.5 million to nearly $30 million – an increase of 243 percent.

The Prime Minister has said, “We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors”, but the opposite has happened under his watch.

“His government has cut vital support staff, which means stressed front line staff like clinicians are tied up in paperwork. Their solution is increasing contractor spend to cover the shortfall, taking total spending on contractors in last financial year of $680 million.

“An $84m year-on-year spike in contractor and consultant costs demonstrates that this Government relies on desperate short term fixes for long term problems - an approach that will leave New Zealanders poorer and sicker in the long run.

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“It’s galling that Health New Zealand has spent more on communications contractors while being less transparent in their communication with the public. They have not published their turn around plan, a workforce plan or the statutorily required Health Plan.

“There is nothing normal about the increased contractor costs in hospital and specialist services. The hiring freeze has resulted in greater use of more expensive locums.

“The Government’s cuts are taking our health system backwards,” said Ayesha Verrall.

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