A decision to cap the number of nursing students in 2027 leaves aged care out of the picture and exposes a failure in how New Zealand plans its health workforce, the Aged Care Association says.

The Tertiary Education Commission has reportedly told nursing schools to return to 2025 enrolment levels, apparently because of limited space for clinical placements within Health New Zealand.

“Why is the organisation responsible for funding nursing education relying on just one part of the health sector to determine how many nurses New Zealand should train?” association chief executive Tracey Martin said.

Health New Zealand was not the only employer of nurses, or the only part of the health sector able to offer clinical placements, she said.

“That makes absolutely no sense.”

Labour has also seized on the decision, with campaign chair Kieran McAnulty accusing the Government of running down the health workforce in the middle of a crisis.

“Think about how ridiculous that is. We have nurses graduating and struggling to find jobs, patients waiting for care, and hospitals under pressure, yet National’s answer is to train fewer nurses.”

McAnulty claimed the Government had hired just 54 nurses in two years, and graduate nurses unable to find work were leaving for Australia.

Labour has promised to offer every eligible New Zealand-trained graduate nurse a job in the health system.

“You cannot cut your way to better care by shutting the door on the next generation of nurses.”

Tens of thousands of older New Zealanders receive clinical care in aged care facilities every day, many with dementia, multiple chronic conditions and increasingly complex needs, Martin said. That number would grow, and so would the need for nurses.

“Aged residential care is health care. The only thing that changes is the address where that care is delivered.”

Aged care providers already offer clinical placements to nursing students and may be able to take on more with the right supervision and support, she said.

“If Health New Zealand cannot provide more placements, then surely the logical next step is to ask who else can.”

Martin said it was fair to ask whether tight funding was also behind the decision, but either way, no one appeared to be planning for the nursing workforce the whole health system needed.

She also raised concerns about New Zealand First’s policy to replace the Accredited Employer Work Visa with a shortage-led Skilled Work Visa. Aged care relies on overseas-trained nurses and carers, particularly in rural and regional areas.

“If future immigration settings make international recruitment more difficult, while decisions about domestic nursing education continue to be based largely on Health New Zealand’s requirements, where exactly are aged residential care providers expected to find their nurses?”

The association wants the Tertiary Education Commission to explain which parts of the health sector it consulted before making the decision, and is calling for a national health workforce strategy covering every part of the system.

“If aged care fails, the health system fails.”

Health New Zealand and the Tertiary Education Commission have been approached for comment.