Graduate nurses promised a job under Labour may not get to choose where they work, with the party’s health spokeswoman saying some will be steered into aged care, general practice and parts of the country where nurses are scarce.

The comments came as Labour released its plan to tackle overcrowded emergency departments, promising more nurses, faster access to hospital beds and more care outside hospital.

Labour said it will guarantee every eligible New Zealand trained graduate nurse a job, with about 2400 graduates a year offered work from 2027.

But Dr Ayesha Verrall told chrislynchmedia.com the guarantee was a job offer, not a dream placement.

“It is not a job in the town and specialty that the individual would most like, but we will try and accommodate that wherever possible,” she said.

Pressed on what would happen if a graduate turned down a job in aged care, Verrall was blunt.

“Well, they’ve had a job offer, and that’s a hell of a lot better than what they’re getting from the current government, which is nothing at all.”

Labour’s $525 million nursing policy has been reported as adding 350 positions over four years.

Verrall said that figure was the increase on top of the graduates the health system already hires.

Labour would also end the current hiring freeze, which she said would open roles for senior nurses and other health workers.

“National has hired just 54 nurses in two years while hospitals struggle to cope and newly qualified nurses can’t find jobs. That’s not good enough,” Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said.

Christchurch Hospital’s emergency department has struggled with patients waiting for ward beds because there are not enough staffed beds.

Verrall would not say how many extra beds Labour would deliver in Christchurch.

Instead, Labour would order an immediate report identifying hospital beds that could be opened with the right staffing. The report would also look at deaths and safety issues linked to long waits.

Verrall pointed to Waitākere Hospital, where she said a 30 bed ward built under the last Labour government had only nine beds open because the rest were not staffed. “If we open them up, we’d be able to move people from the ED into a staffed bed much more easily.”

Labour is also promising three free GP visits a year through its Medicard, along with free prescriptions, more GP appointments and more local clinics.

In Canterbury, getting seen is already a struggle.

Asked about after hours clinics regularly reaching capacity, including the new clinic in Rolleston and the 24 Hour Surgery on Madras Street, with patients spilling over into the emergency department, Verrall said Labour had worked with the sector on ways to free up time in general practice.

They included phone triage, which she said could cut the need for urgent appointments by about 30 percent. Cutting doctors’ paperwork and helping practices expand would free up an estimated 4.5 million appointments, she said.

Doctors setting up new practices would be offered low or no interest loans, and more locally trained doctors would start entering the health system from 2029, she said.

“I’m fully aware of the size of challenges that our health system faces. They’re really big.”

Labour’s plan focuses on moving patients through hospital faster, getting people the right care in the right place, keeping people healthy and out of hospital, and stronger leadership from day one.

Its measures include:

• tackling staffing and discharge bottlenecks
• preparing hospitals for winter before demand surges
• funding teams to help older people recover at home
• training more extended care paramedics to treat people at home or in the community

Asked whether better pay was the real fix for nurses leaving for Australia, Verrall said nurses received a double digit pay rise and a pay equity settlement while she was health minister.

The bigger concern for nurses now was burnout on understaffed wards, while graduates who were badly needed could not find jobs, she said.

Labour’s priorities were the emergency department, ending the hiring freeze and hiring graduate nurses, and making primary care affordable, she said.

“It’s not everything, but it’s three things that without which we won’t make any progress.”