Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora data, obtained by the Herald after a months-long Official Information Act request, reveals that nearly a quarter of all nursing shifts across the country in 2025 were understaffed.
The data, encompassing 739,503 shifts across 615 wards in 67 health facilities, shows that 185,711 shifts, or 24.5%, did not meet Health NZ's targets for nursing staff.
Even the national child cancer ward at Starship hospital fell below its target staffing levels, with only 41% of shifts meeting targets in September. There were nine days that month when no shifts met their nursing staff targets.
Auckland's high-risk maternity ward, Whitinga Ora Pepi, also saw half of its shifts in 2025 not meeting targeted nurse numbers.
Health NZ and the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) have differing interpretations of the data. Health NZ dismisses it as a "snapshot" and not a measure of patient safety, while NZNO argues it proves patients are not receiving the care they need.
Staffing shortages are not uniform across the country. Porirua Mental Health Services Facility reported 49.4% of shifts below target, while Grey Base Hospital on the West Coast met its target for 93.8% of shifts.
Previous Herald reporting has highlighted issues such as patients being treated in corridors, strains in regional hospitals, and a slowdown in frontline hiring. In one instance, nurses at Waitākere Hospital's Muriwai Ward reported stroke patients languishing in wet beds due to chronic understaffing, a claim Health NZ initially disputed but was followed by a patient fracturing their spine amid short staffing on the same ward.
In another case, a patient died in a Waikato Hospital toilet after a nine-hour wait in the emergency department, prompting an urgent review by the Health Minister.
Health NZ's national chief nurse, Nadine Gray, stated that the shift data is collected after shifts end and may represent brief periods of under-resourcing. She emphasized that it should not be used in isolation to claim wards are unsafe.
NZNO CEO Paul Goulter countered that understaffed shifts mean patients' needs are not being met, leading to stress for nurses and potentially dangerous situations, particularly in mental health wards.
The Care Capacity Demand Management (CCDM) programme, used to set these targets, has been in development for over 20 years but Health NZ still considers its current tools not fit for purpose.
The data also highlights a "postcode lottery" for care, with significant disparities in staffing levels between different facilities and regions.
