# Question 124: For the 2026 New Zealand general election: How do parties plan to improve GP access and hospital waiting times, and what have they said about staffing and funding?

Collected 31 October 2026

[NZ Election 2026 · Edition 7 study](https://nzbrands.ai/research/nz-election-2026/editions/7)

## ChatGPT

Answer ID: 9c5f23e8-ee70-4fd3-af8f-cc576311868b

# 2026 New Zealand general election: Health policy comparison

The main health-policy questions in the 2026 election are how parties would make it easier to see a GP, reduce hospital waiting lists, recruit and retain health workers, and pay for additional services.

It is useful to compare four areas separately:

- GP access: appointment availability, cost, workforce and after-hours care.
- Hospital waiting times: elective surgery, specialist appointments, emergency departments and diagnostic tests.
- Staffing: doctors, nurses, specialists, midwives and other health professionals.
- Funding: additional health spending, primary-care funding and how proposed improvements would be financed.

The comparison below focuses on national party positions and distinguishes announced policies from broader campaign commitments.

## 1. What each party is proposing

The following reflects policies available by 30 October 2026. The election is scheduled for 7 November 2026.

### National

Continuity and capacity expansion

National's approach is largely to continue its current health strategy.

- GP access: Expand urgent and after-hours services and online GP consultations. Budget 2026 provides for 53,000 additional general-practice enrolments.
- Hospital waiting times: Continue using public and private hospitals to increase elective procedures. Its Elective Boost programme has delivered a reported 40,000 procedures.
- Staffing: Increase medical training places at Auckland and Otago universities and establish the Waikato Graduate School of Medicine.
- Funding: Budget 2026 provides for an additional 24,000 planned-care treatments, 42,000 inpatient episodes and 26,000 emergency department events.

National emphasises measurable health targets, greater treatment capacity and fiscal restraint rather than a major redesign of the system. [Election 2026 and health: promises, priorities and delivery](https://www.nzmj.org.nz/journal/vol-139-no-1643/election-2026-and-health-promises-priorities-and-delivery)[Election 2026 and health: promises, priorities and delivery](https://nzmj.org.nz/journal/vol-139-no-1643/election-2026-and-health-promises-priorities-and-delivery)

### Labour

Affordable primary care and additional capacity

Labour's central argument is that people should not have to delay seeing a doctor because of cost.

- GP access: Three free GP or nurse consultations annually for every person entitled to publicly funded healthcare, through a new Medicard.
- GP workforce: An interest-free Family Doctor Loan Scheme to help doctors buy into owner-operated practices. It aims to help generate more than 4.5 million additional GP appointments annually through targeted funding, phone triage and technology.
- Hospital waiting times: An Emergency Department Recovery Plan involving more GP appointments, more nurses and faster emergency care. It also proposes addressing hospital building and maintenance backlogs.
- Staffing: Guarantee jobs for eligible New Zealand-trained graduate nurses from 2027 and provide 24 paid trainee sonographer positions.
- Funding: A proposed 28% capital gains tax on profits from specified residential investment and commercial property, with revenue ring-fenced for healthcare.

Labour also proposes removing the $5 prescription charge from July 2027. [Labour's 2026 Election Policies](https://www.labour.org.nz/policy)[Affordable Healthcare](https://www.labour.org.nz/election-policy-pages/2026-election-policy-summary-pages/affordable-healthcare/)[Election 2026 and health: promises, priorities and delivery](https://www.nzmj.org.nz/journal/vol-139-no-1643/election-2026-and-health-promises-priorities-and-delivery)

### Green Party

Publicly funded healthcare and workforce investment

The Greens propose a broader expansion of publicly funded services.

- GP access: Move towards fully publicly funded primary healthcare, reducing or removing the cost barrier to visiting a GP.
- Hospital waiting times: Increase investment in public healthcare capacity, prevention and community services, with the aim of reducing pressure on hospitals.
- Staffing: Improve safe staffing levels, wages, pay parity and working conditions, particularly for primary-care nurses and hauora providers.
- Rural access: Expand mobile healthcare, dental and mental health services.
- Funding: Increase public investment in health, including Pharmac funding and primary-care services.

The Greens also propose publicly funded adult dental care and expanding the health workforce through increased training and retention. [Election 2026 and health: promises, priorities and delivery](https://www.nzmj.org.nz/journal/vol-139-no-1643/election-2026-and-health-promises-priorities-and-delivery)[NZ Election 2026 Health Policies for Resident Doctors](https://nzrda.org.nz/resources/2026-election-policy-summaries/)

### ACT

Efficiency, provider choice and expanded clinical roles

ACT places emphasis on getting more capacity from existing health professionals and providers.

- GP access: Allow pharmacists and other qualified health professionals to provide more routine healthcare, including managing some long-term conditions and ordering blood tests.
- Hospital waiting times: Make greater use of private healthcare providers to reduce public hospital waiting lists.
- Staffing: Expand the scope of practice for existing health professionals so that doctors can concentrate on more complex cases.
- Funding: Increase the proportion of the health budget spent on medicines by one percentage point annually, aiming to reach 12% by 2033.
- Major facilities: Support a national cancer centre with campuses in Auckland and Christchurch, using private investment, public-private partnerships and existing health funding.

ACT supports the Waikato medical school following its review of the project. [Election 2026 and health: promises, priorities and delivery](https://www.nzmj.org.nz/journal/vol-139-no-1643/election-2026-and-health-promises-priorities-and-delivery)[NZ Election 2026 Health Policies for Resident Doctors](https://nzrda.org.nz/resources/2026-election-policy-summaries/)

### New Zealand First

Waiting-list fund and international recruitment

NZ First has proposed a specific mechanism for tackling waiting lists.

- GP access: Introduce nurse practitioner-led digital health clinics in areas where it is difficult to recruit doctors.
- Hospital waiting times: Establish a $925 million annual GP-controlled Waitlist Reduction Fund. GPs would be able to purchase approved specialist consultations and operations for patients waiting for treatment.
- Staffing: Estimate that approximately 2,000 additional doctors are needed and prioritise international recruitment. It also proposes reducing administrative burdens on GPs.
- Primary care: Restore greater professional autonomy in general practice and introduce health coaches.
- Funding: Allocate an additional $1.3 billion to medicines and replace Pharmac with a new medicines agency.

The proposed waiting-list fund is particularly notable because it would give GPs a role in arranging treatment rather than relying exclusively on hospital waiting-list processes. [Election 2026 and health: promises, priorities and delivery](https://www.nzmj.org.nz/journal/vol-139-no-1643/election-2026-and-health-promises-priorities-and-delivery)[Election 2026 and health: promises, priorities and delivery](https://www.nzmj.org.nz/journal/vol-139-no-1643/election-2026-and-health-promises-priorities-and-delivery)

### Te Pāti Māori

Māori-led healthcare and prevention

Te Pāti Māori focuses on changing how healthcare is governed and delivered.

- GP access: Strengthen Māori-led and community-based health services, with culturally safe and accessible care.
- Hospital waiting times: Its emphasis is on prevention and earlier intervention to reduce the need for crisis and hospital-based treatment.
- Staffing: Strengthen Māori participation in health service delivery and develop Māori-led solutions. It has not published a comparable detailed national staffing target.
- Funding: Shift resources towards prevention, whānau wellbeing and Māori-led healthcare.
- Governance: Rebuild and strengthen a Māori-led health authority.

Its approach puts particular emphasis on addressing health inequalities and improving accountability to Māori communities. [Election 2026 and health: promises, priorities and delivery](https://www.nzmj.org.nz/journal/vol-139-no-1643/election-2026-and-health-promises-priorities-and-delivery)[NZ Election 2026 Health Policies for Resident Doctors](https://nzrda.org.nz/resources/2026-election-policy-summaries/)

### Opportunity Party

Long-term funding and planning

Opportunity's central proposal is a cross-party, 10-year health plan called Healthy People.

- GP access: Increase the proportion of health funding directed towards primary care.
- Hospital waiting times: Focus on earlier intervention, prevention and stronger community healthcare to reduce pressure on hospitals.
- Staffing: Establish longer-term workforce planning, including medical training and clinical placements.
- Funding: Gradually increase public health expenditure from approximately 7.4% to 9% of GDP.
- Planning: Seek agreement across political parties so that long-term health investment is less vulnerable to changes in government.

[Election 2026 and health: promises, priorities and delivery](https://www.nzmj.org.nz/journal/vol-139-no-1643/election-2026-and-health-promises-priorities-and-delivery)[NZ Election 2026 Health Policies for Resident Doctors](https://nzrda.org.nz/resources/2026-election-policy-summaries/)

## 2. Side-by-side comparison

| Party | GP access | Hospital waiting lists | Workforce priority |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| National | More online, urgent and after-hours care | More public and private capacity | More medical training |
| Labour | Three free visits annually | ED recovery and more capacity | Graduate nurse jobs, GP recruitment |
| Greens | Fully publicly funded primary care | Expand public and community services | Better pay, safe staffing |
| ACT | More services through pharmacies | Use private providers | Broader professional scopes |
| NZ First | Digital clinics and nurse practitioners | $925m annual waiting-list fund | Recruit 2,000 additional doctors |
| Te Pāti Māori | Māori-led community care | Prevention and earlier intervention | Māori health workforce |
| Opportunity | More primary-care funding | Prevention and long-term planning | Long-term workforce strategy |

## 3. How do their funding commitments differ?

There are some substantial differences in how parties intend to finance their proposals.

| Party | Funding approach |
| --- | --- |
| National | Existing health-budget direction, Budget 2026 allocations and fiscal restraint |
| Labour | Ring-fenced revenue from a proposed targeted capital gains tax |
| Greens | Greater public investment in healthcare |
| ACT | Reallocation within health spending, including increased medicines funding |
| NZ First | Dedicated $925m annual waiting-list fund and additional medicines funding |
| Te Pāti Māori | Redirect resources towards prevention and Māori-led services |
| Opportunity | Increase health expenditure towards 9% of GDP |

An important distinction: a proposed funding allocation is not the same as a fully costed and operational plan. Some commitments have specific funding mechanisms, while others describe broad spending priorities. [Election 2026 and health: promises, priorities and delivery](https://www.nzmj.org.nz/journal/vol-139-no-1643/election-2026-and-health-promises-priorities-and-delivery)[NZ Election 2026 Health Policies for Resident Doctors](https://nzrda.org.nz/resources/2026-election-policy-summaries/)[Labour's 2026 Election Policies](https://www.labour.org.nz/policy)

## 4. What about the shortage of doctors and nurses?

This is one of the biggest issues behind all the parties' proposals.

Three approaches stand out:

1. Training more professionals: National's expansion of medical training, including the Waikato medical school, is a long-term approach. The first 120 graduate-entry students are planned for 2028.
2. Recruiting and retaining existing professionals: NZ First emphasises international doctor recruitment, while the Greens focus on working conditions, pay parity and retention. Labour proposes guaranteed employment for eligible graduate nurses.
3. Making better use of existing professionals: ACT proposes giving pharmacists and other health professionals more responsibility. NZ First proposes nurse practitioner-led digital clinics.

These approaches address different parts of the workforce problem. More medical students will not immediately resolve current GP shortages, because training takes years and graduates must also complete further clinical training.

The New Zealand Medical Journal identifies workforce availability, clinical placements and specialist training as major constraints on delivering election promises. [Election 2026 and health: promises, priorities and delivery](https://www.nzmj.org.nz/journal/vol-139-no-1643/election-2026-and-health-promises-priorities-and-delivery)[NZ Election 2026 Health Policies for Resident Doctors](https://nzrda.org.nz/resources/2026-election-policy-summaries/)

## 5. What should voters look at when comparing the promises?

I would pay particular attention to five practical questions:

- Actual GP availability: Will people be able to get an appointment within a reasonable time, particularly in rural communities?
- Affordability: Will GP consultations become cheaper or free, and who qualifies?
- Waiting-list reductions: Are parties promising additional operations, or simply changing how existing waiting lists are managed?
- Staffing commitments: Are there funded jobs, training places and retention measures behind the promises?
- Long-term funding: Is the funding identified, and will it cover ongoing salaries, hospital beds, equipment and operating costs?

One particularly important distinction is that making GP visits free does not automatically make appointments available. Equally, funding more hospital operations does not guarantee shorter waits if there are insufficient surgeons, nurses, theatres or beds.

The New Zealand Medical Journal makes this distinction explicitly in its October 2026 election analysis. [Election 2026 and health: promises, priorities and delivery](https://www.nzmj.org.nz/journal/vol-139-no-1643/election-2026-and-health-promises-priorities-and-delivery)

## 6. Useful sources for checking the policies

These are useful starting points for reading the original commitments and independent comparisons:

- [New Zealand Medical Journal – Election 2026 and health: promises, priorities and delivery](https://www.nzmj.org.nz/journal/vol-139-no-1643/election-2026-and-health-promises-priorities-and-delivery?utm_source=chatgpt.com) (9 October 2026).
- [New Zealand Resident Doctors' Association – 2026 election health and workforce policy summaries](https://nzrda.org.nz/resources/2026-election-policy-summaries/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) (party-by-party comparison).
- [Labour – 2026 election policies](https://www.labour.org.nz/policy?utm_source=chatgpt.com).
- [APEX – 2026 election policy summaries](https://apex.org.nz/resources/2026-election-policy-summaries/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) (health and industrial workforce policies).

Overall: The parties are offering quite different routes towards improving healthcare. National emphasises expanding capacity and continuing its current approach; Labour focuses on affordability and primary-care access; the Greens on publicly funded services and workforce conditions; ACT on provider choice and efficiency; NZ First on a dedicated waiting-list fund and doctor recruitment; Te Pāti Māori on Māori-led healthcare; and Opportunity on sustained investment through a 10-year plan.

The key question is not just how much each party promises to spend, but whether it can provide enough qualified people and facilities to turn that spending into shorter waits and more accessible GP appointments.

## Gemini

Answer ID: 99b1b852-5a69-42fe-a266-cf827820fb0c

For the **2026 New Zealand general election**, health care—particularly primary care access, hospital waitlists, and the state of the health workforce—has emerged as a central issue. Political parties have outlined distinct approaches to funding, staffing, and relieving pressure on both general practices (GPs) and public hospitals. 

---

### 1. Improving GP Access and Primary Care
High costs and long wait times for a GP appointment have driven several major policy proposals aimed at making primary care more affordable and accessible:

*   **Labour Party:** Promotes a headline policy of a **"Medicard" providing three free GP consultations annually** for every person entitled to publicly funded healthcare. To ease operational capacity, Labour proposes a *Family Doctor Loan Scheme* to help doctors enter practice ownership, alongside enabling pharmacists to treat more conditions without a prescription and freeing up clinic appointments.
*   **National Party / Government Incumbency:** Focuses heavily on continuity, capacity expansion, and utilizing alternative primary care channels. This includes expanding active "prescriptions" for lifestyle and preventative health (the Healthy Kiwis Programme) and integrating health coaches to reduce administrative and clinical burdens on GPs.
*   **ACT Party:** Proposes an ongoing **$100 million annual boost to GPs** (totaling $400 million over four years) specifically designed to reward practices offering extended hours and incentivize GPs to see more patients.
*   **The Opportunities Party (TOP) & Te Pāti Māori:** Propose sweeping structural shifts, such as lifting overall health GDP spending proportions to expand primary care, with Te Pāti Māori advocating for free dental and primary healthcare for all whānau alongside a transition to fully public models.

---

### 2. Reducing Hospital Waiting Times and Emergency Department Pressure
To tackle bottlenecks, overcrowded emergency departments (EDs), and elective surgery waiting lists, parties have proposed targeted service expansions:

*   **Labour:** Promises to tackle dangerous ED wait times by deploying more nurses, ensuring faster access to hospital beds, utilizing public hospital theatres more efficiently, and increasing the number of extended-care paramedics and early-discharge support teams to keep patients out of hospitals unnecessarily. They also pledge to address hospital infrastructure backlogs.
*   **National:** Emphasizes meeting specific public health targets, expanding hospital capacity, and increasing Pharmac's budget significantly (e.g., a $604 million boost for cancer and life-saving drugs) to prevent downstream hospital admissions. They have also targeted specific secondary care improvements, such as ensuring 3-day postnatal stays for mothers.
*   **Green Party & Te Pāti Māori:** Focus heavily on preventative care and tackling the social determinants of health to reduce acute hospital admissions, alongside major investments to eliminate specialized and mental health waiting lists.

---

### 3. Staffing and Workforce Solutions
Staff retention, recruitment, and pay parity are core battlegrounds across the political spectrum:

*   **Labour:** Has pledged to **guarantee employment for all eligible New Zealand-trained graduate nurses** starting from 2027 to lock local talent into the public system. They also plan to fund additional trainee sonographer positions to cut diagnostic waiting times.
*   **Sector Groups (e.g., GenPro, APEX):** Primary care organizations have pushed parties to commit to multi-year funding pathways that allow GP clinics to offer pay and conditions competitive with hospital roles, helping stem the loss of clinicians. 
*   **Te Pāti Māori and Green Party:** Call for massive workforce investments—such as Te Pāti Māori’s proposed $1 billion annual injection into workforce development—with a heavy emphasis on fair wages, pay equity, and expanding the Māori and Pacific health workforce.

---

### 4. Funding Approaches
Parties differ significantly on how to sustainably finance these health system overhauls:

*   **Labour:** Proposes funding its expansive primary care and workforce commitments through a **28% capital gains tax** on specified residential investment and commercial property profits, which would be strictly ring-fenced for health.
*   **National:** Focuses on fiscal restraint, reallocating existing funds (such as trimming foreign aid outside the Pacific to fund targeted medicine expansions like Pharmac drug budgets).
*   **TOP and Minor Parties:** Advocate for a broader macroeconomic shift, with TOP calling for a cross-party 10-year plan that incrementally scales up health funding from roughly 7.4% to 9% of GDP.

## Google AI Mode

Answer ID: 5e4c3993-343b-4b55-bb68-aa920a24fef7

**In the**2026 New Zealand General Election** , political parties are sharply divided between expanding direct public funding for free universal access versus maximizing existing resources through structural and scope-of-practice reforms.**

* * *

**Parties on the Left (e.g., Labour and allied parties)**

 * **GP Access:** Propose making **GP visits free or heavily subsidized** (such as introducing up to three free GP visits a year or broad-scale free primary care) and ensuring all referred maternity/pregnancy scans are free.

 * **Hospital Waiting Times & Targets:** **Labour** has stated it would retain the current coalition government's formal health targets (such as elective treatment and emergency department timeframes) while working to address regional disparities ("postcode lotteries") in wait times.

 * **Staffing:** Propose measures such as **guaranteeing jobs for New Zealand-trained graduate nurses** and increasing pay and training support for general practice doctors, rural doctors, and nurses.

 * **Funding:** Propose **lifting overall health funding** significantly (e.g., targeting a higher percentage of GDP or expanding the budget) and increasing Pharmac’s medicines budget percentage over time.

* * *

**Parties Currently in Government (e.g., National, ACT, New Zealand First)**

 * **GP Access & Efficiency:** Focus on making current health funding go further by reducing administrative burdens on general practitioners and increasing the scope of work for alternative roles—such as **physician associates and pharmacists** —to take pressure off traditional GPs.

 * **Hospital Waiting Times & Targets:** Emphasize tracking and pushing public health districts to meet strict clinical wait-time targets for emergency departments and elective treatments, though performance varies regionally (with shorter or longer delays depending on the district).

 * **Staffing:** Emphasize workforce expansion through targeted training pipelines, such as backing the development of a **new medical school in Waikato** to increase domestic doctor supply, alongside utilizing non-GP clinical roles.

 * **Funding:** Focus on fiscal discipline within baseline health allocations, expanding subsidized medicine lists via Pharmac, and delivering a structured 10-year plan rather than broad untargeted spending increases.

* * *

**Summary Comparison of Approaches**

Policy Area| Parties on the Left (e.g., Labour)| Parties in Government (e.g., National/Coalition)
---|---|---
**GP Access**| Free/subsidized GP visits (e.g., up to 3 free visits/year)| Expanding pharmacist and physician associate scope; reducing admin
**Hospital Wait Times**| Keep health targets; address regional "postcode lottery" gaps| Enforce formal health targets across districts; operational optimization
**Staffing & Training**| Guaranteed jobs for NZ-trained graduate nurses; higher GP pay| New Waikato medical school; workforce scope expansion
**Funding Approach**| Higher overall health spending as % of GDP; boost Pharmac| Maximise existing baseline funding; 10-year system plan; targeted Pharmac growth

You can explore full interactive comparisons on specific health pledges via Policy.nz.