The Government has today added 32 new health sector roles to the Straight to Residence pathway of the Green List to help prepare New Zealand’s health system for the coming winter.
Immigration Minister, Michael Wood said the announcement came at a time when the world was facing a global health worker shortage.
“It is vital that New Zealand’s immigration settings present a competitive offer to attract health workers to our shores,” Mr Wood said.
“We need more qualified people to help us deliver on our record health investments and help improve access to good healthcare in New Zealand.”
He said the Government had listened to the health sector and the changes would ensure that immigration settings are as helpful and competitive as possible.
“When I became Health Minister I said workforce was one of my three key areas of priority and today’s announcement is a significant step in attracting more people to come and work in our health system,” said and Health Minister, Ayesha Verrall.
The 32 health roles being added to the Green List’s Straight to Residence pathway span across the wider health sector from enrolled nurses, nurse practitioners, dentists and dental technicians, MRI scanning technologists, paramedics, optometrists and pharmacists to counselling.
The Green List now has a total of 48 health roles, all of which are nationally important and all of which will be on the Straight to Residence pathway, the Health Minister said.
“The list already includes midwives and registered nurses, which were added to the Green List in December. Last month alone we saw almost 900 overseas nurses apply to register to work in New Zealand,” said Dr Verrall.
“These immigration settings will be among the most competitive in the world, and are yet another positive step, along with better wages for nurses and immigration support, to influence the number of health workers who come to New Zealand.
“These changes are in addition to the steps we have taken to make pay fairer for nurses working in our health sector, some of whom saw up to a 15% increase to their base pay last month.
“We want to train and retain as many local health workers as possible but we have immediate shortages we need to address and today’s changes alongside improvements to pay will go some way to removing barriers to working in New Zealand,” she said.
The Green List also includes roles within the social services, education and justice sectors.
