The Prime Minister is keeping clear of weighing into the hotly debated nurses' pay negotiations, saying it would not help the "delicate" situation.
Negotiations will continue today between District Health boards and nurses after they turned down a pay and conditions offer that included a two per cent salary increase.
The DHBs are promising a new "care capacity demand management plan" to ease workload but nurses say it's only useful to them if it's put into effect soon.
Speaking on TVNZ1's Breakfast today Jacinda Ardern said: "You can understand my caution, we are in the middle of a negotiation that I shouldn't and won't insert myself into," Ms Ardern
"Do I want to see resolution? Yes. Do I value our health workforce? Yes. Should they be paid more? Well, obviously by default they've been offered more, the question is, how much?"
Breakfast host Jack Tame pressed the PM on her personal view on nursing pay, however she kept clear of giving her opinion.
"Anything I say in this area is taken as a lead, and I don't want to disrupt what is a very delicate process that is being undertaken here."
"I want to find resolution, every New Zealander does, we want to find something the nurses will be satisfied with too, but it's the DHBs that are leading that process."
"I don’t want to make an already delicate situation more complicated."
When asked if the government could put more money into DHBs, Ms Ardern said the government is going through a budget process to try and determine what funding "looks like for every DHB".
"We did know about the deficit. Did we know how bad it was? No, because it spans across the operation and their capital funding."
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