Health New Zealand has confirmed Starship children's hospital in Auckland has rescheduled some child cancer treatments due to nursing staff shortages.
Starship's director of medical and community Dr Greg Williams said "paediatric haematology/oncology service is managing nursing staff shortages at a time of high demand and clinical complexity," he said.
"As a result of these shortages, we have had to reschedule some treatments, to ensure our services can still be delivered safely, within capacity, while remaining within reasonable timeframes."
Williams said the decisions were "not made lightly and are based on clinical need".
"We want to reassure parents and families that their children will get the clinical care and support they need... Patient safety and high-quality care is always our highest priority."
He added that the hospital was "recruiting experienced and new graduate nurses as quickly as possible".
"We recognise and greatly value the extraordinary commitment and contribution of our teams who come to work each day to care for kids and their families."
In a statement, Health Minister Simeon Brown said: "I expect affected children to be seen as soon as possible while Health New Zealand recruits to fill the vacant positions."
Labour's health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said the delay to child cancer treatements "show just how severe the crisis has become".
"For two years the Government has denied there has been a hiring freeze at Health NZ, while nurses have reported severe shortages and that they’re denied permission to fill vacant positions," she said.
"Today’s news that children’s cancer treatments have been delayed show just how severe the crisis has become.
"Labour will end the hiring freeze and guarantee every eligible graduate nurse a job so New Zealanders get the care they deserve," she said.
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