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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?
2026 New Zealand election: Health policies compared
The 2026 general election is on 7 November 2026, and healthcare is a significant point of difference between the parties.
The main dividing lines are:
- GP access: Should the priority be making appointments cheaper, increasing the number of GPs, or expanding alternative ways to receive care?
- Hospital waiting times: Should the system rely more on additional public hospital capacity, private providers, or new funding mechanisms?
- Staffing: How will parties recruit, train and retain doctors, nurses and other health professionals?
- Funding: How much additional money will be committed, and how will it be paid for?
The following comparison reflects published policies and campaign statements available as at 2 November 2026. It distinguishes new promises from measures already introduced by the current government.
1. Party-by-party comparison
National Party
Overall approach: Increase service capacity, retain performance targets and use both public and private healthcare providers.
- GP access: Continue expanding urgent-care, after-hours and online GP services. Budget 2026 includes funding intended to support 53,000 additional general-practice enrolments.
- Hospital waiting times: Continue the Elective Boost programme, using public and private providers to increase procedures. National reports 40,000 procedures already delivered through the programme.
- Staffing: Expand medical training at Auckland and Otago universities and establish the Waikato Graduate School of Medicine. The first 120 graduate-entry students are planned for 2028.
- Funding: Budget 2026 provides for 24,000 additional planned-care treatments, 42,000 additional inpatient episodes and 26,000 additional emergency-department events.
National's approach is largely to continue its existing health programme, with an emphasis on targets, productivity and fiscal restraint. Election 2026 and health: promises, priorities and delivery
Labour Party
Overall approach: Make primary healthcare more affordable and improve the availability of family doctors and nurses.
- GP access: Three free GP visits per year for everyone eligible for publicly funded healthcare, through a new Medicard.
- Prescriptions: Remove the $5 prescription charge from 1 July 2027.
- Hospital waiting times: Introduce an ED Recovery Plan, with a focus on improving emergency-department capacity and patient flow.
- Staffing: Introduce a Graduate Nurse Job Guarantee, offering eligible New Zealand-trained nursing graduates employment from 2027. Also introduce a Family Doctor Loan Scheme to help doctors establish or take over GP practices.
- Funding: A proposed 28% capital gains tax on specified property investment profits, with revenue ring-fenced for health.
Labour's approach combines lower costs for patients with measures intended to expand the primary-care workforce. Labour's 2026 Election PoliciesElection 2026 and health: promises, priorities and delivery
Green Party
Overall approach: Expand publicly funded healthcare, with a stronger emphasis on prevention, community services and equity.
- GP access: Move towards fully publicly funded primary healthcare, reducing financial barriers to GP appointments.
- Hospital waiting times: Increase investment in community and preventive services to reduce avoidable demand on hospitals.
- Staffing: Improve pay parity and working conditions for primary-care nurses and hauora providers. Expand mobile healthcare services, particularly in rural communities.
- Funding: Increase public investment in healthcare, including Pharmac funding for medicines and medical devices.
- Additional workforce commitment: Pay nursing students for clinical placements, proposing a $380 weekly stipend and assistance with relocation costs.
The Greens' programme is broader than hospital treatment alone: it seeks to strengthen healthcare outside hospitals as well. Election 2026 and health: promises, priorities and deliveryVote for health: From Labour to ACT, how will (or won’t) our politicians support nursing students?
ACT Party
Overall approach: Improve efficiency, expand provider choice and make greater use of private and community healthcare capacity.
- GP access: Allow pharmacists and other qualified health professionals to undertake more everyday healthcare services, reducing pressure on GPs.
- Hospital waiting times: Increase the use of private providers to perform procedures and treat patients waiting in the public system.
- Staffing: Make better use of existing professionals by allowing them to work closer to the full extent of their professional scopes. ACT supports the Waikato medical school.
- Funding: Increase medicines funding progressively towards Australia's proportion of health expenditure. ACT estimates this could eventually mean a medicines budget of approximately $5–6 billion.
- Additional proposal: Establish comprehensive cancer centres in Auckland and Christchurch, combining specialist treatment, research and clinical trials.
ACT places particular emphasis on productivity and making use of capacity across different healthcare providers. Election 2026 and health: promises, priorities and delivery
New Zealand First
Overall approach: Address waiting lists through additional funding, international recruitment and greater GP involvement in purchasing healthcare.
- GP access: Introduce nurse practitioner-led Digital Health Clinics in areas where it is difficult to recruit GPs. Also make it easier for appropriately registered doctors to enter general practice.
- 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 on waiting lists.
- Staffing: Estimates New Zealand needs approximately 2,000 additional doctors and prioritises international recruitment. Also proposes reducing administrative workloads and increasing GP autonomy.
- Funding: Provide an additional $1.3 billion for medicines and replace Pharmac with a new medicines agency.
- Prevention: Its Make NZ Healthy programme puts greater emphasis on nutrition, metabolic health and preventive healthcare.
The proposed waiting-list fund is a particularly significant commitment: it would give GPs a direct role in arranging and purchasing treatment for patients awaiting specialist care. Election 2026 and health: promises, priorities and delivery
Te Pāti Māori
Overall approach: Put Māori health equity, community-led healthcare and whānau wellbeing at the centre of the health system.
- GP access: Strengthen Māori-led community health services and improve access to culturally safe primary healthcare.
- Hospital waiting times: Focus on prevention and earlier intervention, alongside better access to services for Māori communities.
- Staffing: Its programme emphasises Māori participation and leadership in healthcare, although the published material reviewed provides less detail on specific national doctor and nurse recruitment targets.
- Funding: Rebuild and strengthen a Māori-led health authority and direct more resources towards Māori-led services.
- Additional focus: Address wider factors affecting health, including housing, income and food security.
Its central difference from National, ACT and NZ First is its emphasis on Māori-led health governance and service delivery. Election 2026 and health: promises, priorities and delivery
Opportunity Party
Overall approach: Establish long-term health planning that does not change direction every three years.
- GP access: Increase investment in primary, community and preventive healthcare.
- Hospital waiting times: Its broader strategy is to strengthen primary care and prevention, reducing pressure on hospitals over time.
- Staffing: Develop a long-term national medical workforce strategy covering medical schools, specialist training and clinical placements.
- Funding: Progressively increase public health expenditure towards 9% of GDP, while increasing the proportion allocated to primary care.
- Additional proposal: Establish a 10-year, cross-party health plan called Healthy People.
Opportunity's proposal is notable for its long-term spending target, although the practical implementation and political agreement required would need to be worked through. Election 2026 and health: promises, priorities and delivery
2. Quick comparison: what are the main differences?
| Party | GP access | Hospital waiting times | Staffing priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| National | More urgent, after-hours and online services | Public/private Elective Boost | Train more doctors |
| Labour | Three free GP visits annually | ED Recovery Plan | Graduate nurse jobs, GP ownership |
| Greens | Progressively free primary care | Prevention and community services | Better pay and conditions |
| ACT | More pharmacy and professional services | More private-sector capacity | Broader professional scopes |
| NZ First | Digital clinics and easier GP recruitment | $925m annual waiting-list fund | Recruit 2,000 additional doctors |
| Te Pāti Māori | Māori-led community services | Prevention and equitable access | Māori workforce participation |
| Opportunity | More primary-care investment | Long-term system planning | Long-term medical workforce strategy |
3. What are the biggest funding commitments?
These are some of the most substantial financial figures in the published proposals.
NZ First
$925 million
Annually for its proposed GP-controlled Waitlist Reduction Fund.
Opportunity
9% of GDP
Its proposed long-term public health expenditure target.
NZ First
$1.3 billion
Additional proposed funding for medicines.
ACT
$5–6 billion
Estimated eventual medicines budget under its proposed approach.
These figures are not directly comparable: some are annual spending commitments, some are long-term targets, and others are estimates of future budgets. Election 2026 and health: promises, priorities and delivery
4. What should voters look at when assessing these promises?
There are five particularly important questions.
- Will there actually be enough GPs? Free or cheaper appointments won't necessarily mean easier access if practices cannot recruit enough doctors.
- Where will additional hospital staff come from? More funding for operations needs surgeons, nurses, anaesthetists, radiologists and other specialists.
- Will private-sector involvement reduce public waiting lists? It may increase available treatment capacity, but the workforce and funding implications need to be considered.
- Are staffing commitments funded? Training doctors takes years, and training more nurses does not automatically guarantee jobs or retention.
- How will success be measured? Look for commitments on actual waiting times, appointment availability, staff numbers and the number of patients treated.
The New Zealand Medical Journal's October 2026 election analysis makes an important distinction: funding, targets and announcements do not automatically translate into better health outcomes. Workforce availability and delivery capacity are crucial. Election 2026 and health: promises, priorities and delivery
5. Further reading
- New Zealand Medical Journal – Election 2026 and health: promises, priorities and delivery (9 October 2026).
- Labour – 2026 election policies.
- Kai Tiaki – How parties plan to support nursing students (31 October 2026).
One important qualification: These are party proposals, not guaranteed outcomes. Coalition negotiations, budgets and the availability of health professionals will affect what can actually be implemented.
I can also compare National versus Labour versus the Greens in more detail, particularly their practical plans for getting people into GP appointments and reducing elective surgery waiting lists.
Compare National, Labour and the Greens in detail
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