18 October 2024
Jamie Thatcher
[FYI request #28326 email]
Tēnā koe Jamie,
Your request for official information, reference: HNZ00064191
Thank you for your email on 6 September 2024, asking Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora
(Health NZ) for the following under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act):
I am requesting information regarding the hiring of new graduate Nurses over the past
5 years up to and including the most recent mid-year 2024 intake.
I would like to know the following:
1) the number of applicants who attended an interview/interviews
2) the number of applicants successfully hired
This should be broken down by each applicant group (i.e. mid-year intake 2023, full-year
intake 2023, mid-year intake 2024), and by each district (i.e. Waikato, MidCentral,
Southern).
Response
We have interpreted your request for information in the context of the Advanced Choice of
Employment (ACE) Nursing process, which is a graduate recruitment process managed by Health
NZ.
Under the Safe Staffing Accord signed on 30 July 2018, Health NZ is commit ed to exploring
options for employment for all New Zealand nursing graduates who apply via the ACE Nursing
process. The ACE Nursing process runs twice a year, with a mid-year and end of year intake.
Through the ACE match process, graduate nurses are placed into Nursing Entry to Practice and
Nursing Entry to Specialist Practice roles across Health NZ, including a portion with primary health
organisations, aged residential care providers, mental health and addictions and community
services providers, other non-hospital practice set ings, and private independent employers.
Health NZ manages the ACE process, while interviews and employment decisions are undertaken
by employers. Given that graduate nurse interviews are undertaken by individual districts or
employers, we are unable to provide information for part 1 of your request as these details are not
recorded centrally by Health NZ and would require significant collation by each district, impacting
on their ability to deliver day-to-day services. Pursuant to clause 18(f) of the Act, we therefore
refuse this part of your request as we cannot provide this information without substantial collation.
For part 2 of your request, please see
Appendix 1 with information on the number of applicants
employed per intake and per district over the past five years. Note the data in the table does not
include candidates who withdrew from the process, or candidates who declined an offer, or
candidates employed by non-Health NZ employers. Additionally, districts may also directly recruit
and accept new graduates into nursing roles without advising ACE, in which case that information
wil not be reflected in the figures.
Note that applicants not matched via ACE can still be employed through the Talent Pool.
The Talent Pool is a pool of all unmatched applicants maintained by ACE which is released to
employers at the end of each intake. Employers use the Talent Pool to fil any subsequent
positions that may become available during the year. The employer can review and select any
applicant that they feel is suitable for employment
The 2024 mid-year intake Talent Pool closed on 18 October 2024. As a result, there may be
applicants from the mid-year Talent Pool who may stil be hired.
How to get in touch
If you have any questions, you can contact us at
[Health New Zealand request email].
If you are not happy with this response, you have the right to make a complaint to the
Ombudsman. Information about how to do this is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
by phoning 0800 802 602.
As this information may be of interest to other members of the public, Health NZ may proactively
release a copy of this response on our website. Al requester data, including your name and
contact details, wil be removed prior to release.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Andrew Slater
Chief People Officer
People and Communications
TeWhatuOra.govt.nz
Health NZ, PO Box 793,
Wel ington 6140, New Zealand
Appendix 1: Number of applicants successful y hired, per intake and per district
Note: The data shows the number of graduate nurses who gained employment across Health NZ districts through the Advanced Choice of Employment
(ACE) Nursing process, by intake, from 2019 up to the 2024 mid-year intake. The figures also include positions placed with primary health organisations,
aged residential care providers and other non-hospital practice settings. The data does not include candidates who withdrew from the process, or candidates
who declined an offer, or candidates employed by non-Health NZ employers.
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
District
Mid-year End of Year Mid-year End of Year Mid-year End of Year Mid-year End of Year Mid-year End of Year Mid-year
Te Toka Tumai Auckland
63
118
64
134
52
156
81
143
56
200
66
Bay of Plenty
0
65
0
67
0
71
79
59
6
64
5
Waitaha Canterbury
67
120
80
113
77
144
0
163
87
170
87
Capital, Coast and Hutt
22
127
18
152
11
159
15
142
18
190
11
Valley
Counties Manukau
42
128
66
98
66
138
79
135
63
150
60
Hawkes Bay
23
27
23
34
22
38
16
36
18
39
17
Lakes
0
24
0
22
0
21
0
19
2
19
0
MidCentral
27
32
12
44
20
48
12
37
20
56
7
Nelson Marlborough
0
38
0
39
0
26
3
37
0
53
0
Northland
24
35
27
32
24
30
21
31
26
33
12
South Canterbury
1
11
2
17
3
16
3
14
1
20
0
Southern
2
98
0
111
0
117
2
99
2
106
3
Tairāwhiti
0
20
0
14
0
11
0
18
0
16
0
Taranaki
0
40
0
37
0
27
1
28
0
50
2
Waikato
55
105
55
103
46
86
41
94
48
144
59
Wairarapa
0
8
0
14
0
7
1
8
1
9
0
Waitematā
43
91
38
98
33
107
46
93
56
109
62
West Coast
3
6
3
5
1
4
3
5
2
4
0
Whanganui
0
16
0
12
6
13
1
10
3
15
0
