Health Minister Andrew Little’s claims over urgent warnings from the health sector are either misleading or he is admitting he is incompetent, National’s Health Spokesperson Dr Shane Reti says.

Earlier this month National revealed an urgent letter on behalf of all 20 DHBs was sent to health officials in July 2021 stating that some hospitals were already in “code red”.

“The letter warned that impending health workforce shortages would cause increased emergency department wait times, increased surgical wait times and a “health crisis” unless there were immediate changes to immigration settings,” Dr Reti says.

“Andrew Little has repeatedly claimed over the past few weeks that he was only made aware of the DHB letter in May this year. Now we know that is not true.

“In an answer to a written question in Parliament, Andrew Little was forced to reveal that he was aware of the letter as far back as September 2021 – eight months earlier than he originally claimed.

“He is now desperately saying that he was aware of the letter but not aware of the content. That would be extraordinary given that my question quoted verbatim of the need to “avert a crisis in the health sector”.

“The Health Minister should have immediately taken note. Instead, he did nothing. Andrew Little’s only defence of the accusation that he was misleading is that he is incompetent.

“Andrew Little should have been going to Cabinet to demand nurses were put on the fast-tracked residency pathway and doing everything else in his power to support the exhausted workforce.

“Either the Minister has been deliberately trying to avoid the sector’s urgent concerns or he paid no attention to a dire warning which has proved to be correct. Either way, he is failing as Health Minister.”