Radiology, Pathology & Oncology Workforce Shortages (2018–2025)
SPENCER JONES made this Official Information request to Ministry of Health
Currently waiting for a response from Ministry of Health, they must respond promptly and normally no later than (details and exceptions).
From: SPENCER JONES
To: Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand
Cc: Te Aho o Te Kahu – Cancer Control Agency; Manatū Hauora – Ministry of Health
Via: FYI.org.nz
Date: [Insert]
Tēnā koutou,
Under the Official Information Act 1982, I request aggregated and numerical information concerning radiology, pathology, and oncology workforce capacity, vacancies, shortages, and service delays across New Zealand from 1 January 2018 to the most recent data available in 2025.
This request does not seek personal or identifiable information.
⸻
1. Workforce totals and FTE shortages (2018–2025)
For each calendar year 2018–2025, please provide the following for:
• Radiologists
• Radiation oncologists
• Medical oncologists
• Haematologists
• Anatomical pathologists
• Clinical/pathology scientists (e.g., histology, cytology, haematology, microbiology)
• Medical imaging technologists (MITs)
• Sonographers
• Nuclear medicine technologists
1.1 Workforce numbers
• Total headcount
• Total employed FTE
• Total funded FTE
• Total vacant FTE
• Vacancy rate (%)
1.2 Workforce shortages
Please provide any national-level estimates or modelling describing the numerical shortfall (FTE shortage) for each profession above.
If forecasting exists to 2030 or 2035, please include it.
⸻
2. Wait times, diagnostic delays & throughput constraints
For each year 2018–2025:
2.1 Radiology wait times
Please provide median, average, and 90th percentile wait times for:
• CT
• MRI
• Ultrasound
• PET/CT (if available)
• Mammography
• X-ray (acute vs elective)
Broken down by region or district.
2.2 Pathology turnaround times
For anatomical pathology, cytology, and haematology laboratories:
• Median and average turnaround time from specimen receipt to histology report
• % of cases exceeding national or local targets
• Any reports of backlogs, delayed reporting, or prioritisation restrictions
2.3 Oncology wait times
For medical oncology, radiation oncology, and haematology:
• Median wait time from referral to first specialist appointment (FSA)
• Median wait time from FSA to start of treatment
• % of patients breaching Faster Cancer Treatment (FCT) targets for each year
⸻
3. Backlogs, service strain, and outsourcing
3.1 Backlog volumes
For each year 2018–2025, provide:
• Number of radiology scans waiting >6 weeks, >12 weeks, and >24 weeks
• Number of pathology cases exceeding expected reporting times
• Number of oncology patients waiting >31 and >62 days
• Any internal dashboards tracking overdue diagnostics or treatment
3.2 Outsourcing
Please provide annual totals for:
• Radiology scans outsourced to private providers
• Radiology scans outsourced to overseas providers
• Pathology specimens outsourced (domestic or international)
• Oncology patients treated in private facilities due to public-sector delays
Include cost estimates if routinely recorded.
⸻
4. Service reductions or suspended services (2018–2025)
Please provide any internal reports or notifications identifying:
• Temporary or long-term suspension of radiology services
• MRI or CT scanner downtime exceeding 48 hours
• Staff shortages resulting in reduced theatre lists or cancelled cancer surgeries
• Reduced pathology lab operating hours or service limitations
• Reduced radiation therapy capacity due to under-staffing
• Inability to staff linear accelerators (LINACs) to full operational hours
If a list exists of facility disruptions or outages, please provide it.
⸻
5. Workforce attrition, illness, and early retirement
For each profession listed in section 1:
5.1 Annual exits
Number of staff leaving the workforce, broken into:
• Resignation
• Retirement
• Medical retirement
• Relocation overseas
• Non-renewal or change of scope
• Internal transfer out of specialty due to workload or health reasons
5.2 Long-term sickness
Aggregated FTE lost to:
• Sick leave
• Long-term medical leave
• Occupational burnout
• ACC injuries (if applicable and non-identifiable)
If no such dataset exists, please confirm.
⸻
6. Impacts of workforce shortages on cancer outcomes
For 2018–2025:
• Any internal reports that assess the relationship between staffing shortages and delays in cancer diagnosis or treatment
• Any risk assessment documents describing:
• increased morbidity
• increased late-stage diagnosis
• reduced ability to meet FCT targets
• Any briefings to Ministers warning of risks to patient safety or increased cancer mortality
If no such analysis exists, please state this explicitly.
⸻
7. Machine outages, equipment limitations, and capacity constraints
Please provide:
• Annual hours of downtime for CT, MRI, PET/CT, and LINAC units (per facility)
• Number of machines exceeding recommended end-of-life or replacement cycles
• Any internal modelling showing unmet capacity demand for imaging or radiation therapy
• Any risk assessments relating to ageing infrastructure or inability to meet demand
⸻
8. Briefings, memos & risk assessments (2020–2025)
Please provide:
• A list of all internal or Ministerial briefings relating to:
• radiology shortages
• pathology shortages
• oncology workforce capacity
• diagnostic backlogs
• cancer pathway delays
• And for the first five in each category, please provide the documents themselves.
If full release would trigger s18(f), the list alone satisfies this part.
⸻
9. Format
• Please supply numerical tables in Excel or CSV format.
• PDF is acceptable for documents.
• If any part of this request is held by another agency (e.g., Te Aho o Te Kahu), please transfer the relevant portion under s14.
Kind regards,
Spencer Jones
(via FYI.org.nz)
From: OIA Requests
Kia ora Spencer
Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the
Act) to the Ministry of Health on 19 November 2025.
The following part of your request asks for information which is more
closely connected with the functions of Health New Zealand:
"1. Workforce totals and FTE shortages (2018–2025)
For each calendar year 2018–2025, please provide the following for:
• Radiologists
• Radiation oncologists
• Medical oncologists
• Haematologists
• Anatomical pathologists
• Clinical/pathology scientists (e.g., histology, cytology,
haematology, microbiology)
• Medical imaging technologists (MITs)
• Sonographers
• Nuclear medicine technologists
1.1 Workforce numbers
• Total headcount
• Total employed FTE
• Total funded FTE
• Total vacant FTE
• Vacancy rate (%)
1.2 Workforce shortages
Please provide any national-level estimates or modelling describing the
numerical shortfall (FTE shortage) for each profession above.
If forecasting exists to 2030 or 2035, please include it.
5. Workforce attrition, illness, and early retirement
For each profession listed in section 1:
5.1 Annual exits
Number of staff leaving the workforce, broken into:
• Resignation
• Retirement
• Medical retirement
• Relocation overseas
• Non-renewal or change of scope
• Internal transfer out of specialty due to workload or
health reasons
5.2 Long-term sickness
Aggregated FTE lost to:
• Sick leave
• Long-term medical leave
• Occupational burnout
• ACC injuries (if applicable and non-identifiable)"
For this reason, the Ministry has decided to partially transfer your
request to Health New Zealand under section 14(b)(ii) of the Act.
You can expect a response from their agency in due course. They can be
contacted at: [1][email address].
Please note the Ministry will respond to the remainder of your request in
due course.
Under section 28(3) of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to
review any decisions made under this request. The Ombudsman may be
contacted by email at: [2][email address] or by calling 0800
802 602.
Ngā mihi
OIA Services Team
Ministry of Health | Manatū Hauora
M[3]inistry of Health information releases
show quoted sections
From: hnzOIA
Tēnā koe, Spencer
Thank you for your email. Your request has been transfered from the
Ministry of Health.
Under the Official Information Act (OIA), agencies are required to respond
to requests for official information as soon as reasonably practicable and
no later than 20 working days after receiving them.
If your request is for data that Health NZ holds, have you checked
[1]Lighthouse first to see if the data you are seeking is already
published?
Lighthouse is a searchable catalogue that makes a range of data and
analytics products available to New Zealanders to enable easier, faster
access to insights about health services.
We will provide a response to your request in line with the statutory
timeframes set out in the OIA.
Ngā mihi,
Health NZ | Te Whatu Ora
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From: hnzOIA
Tçnâ koe,
Thank you for your email.
Under the Official Information Act (OIA), agencies are required to respond
to requests for official information as soon as reasonably practicable and
no later than 20 working days after receiving them.
Please note that the period from 25 December 2025 to 15 January 2026
(inclusive) is not counted as working days under the OIA. As a result, any
OIA requests received on or after 29 November 2025 may take longer to
process than usual, as the maximum response timeframe may extend into the
new year.
If your request is for data that Health NZ holds, have you checked
[1]Lighthouse first to see if the data you are seeking is already
published?
Lighthouse is a searchable catalogue that makes a range of data and
analytics products available to New Zealanders to enable easier, faster
access to insights about health services.
You can find further information about how OIA timeframes are calculated,
including the Ombudsman’s OIA calculator, at the link below:
[2]Official information calculators | Ombudsman New Zealand
We will provide a response to your request in line with the statutory
timeframes set out in the OIA.
We appreciate your understanding and patience during this time.
Ngâ mihi,
Health NZ | Te Whatu Ora
Statement of confidentiality: This email message and any accompanying
attachments may contain information that is IN-CONFIDENCE and subject to
legal privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use,
disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have
received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and
delete this message
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2. https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/agen...
From: hnzOIA
Kia ora Spencer,
Thank you for your request, which the Ministry of Health partially
transferred to Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora (Health NZ) on 27
November 2025 regarding Radiology, Pathology, and Oncology Workforce
Shortages. For reference, I’ve included the questions that were
transferred at the bottom of this message.
Some of the information you requested is not collected in our system at
the level of detail specified.
Based on the information Health NZ holds, we can provide, as at 30 June
and 31 December each year from 2018–2025, the following for the
professions listed below:
* Total Headcount / Employee Count
* Contracted FTE
* Vacant FTE
* Vacancy Rate
* Sick Leave taken
* Total Leavers
Professions included:
* Radiologists
* Radiation oncologists
* Medical oncologists
* Haematologists
* Anatomical pathologists
* Clinical/pathology scientists (e.g., histology, cytology, haematology,
microbiology)
* Medical imaging technologists (MITs)
* Sonographers
* Nuclear medicine technologists
Please note that data may not match exactly for a couple of the
professions above. Can you please confirm you are happy to refine your
request as above.
1.2 Workforce shortages
For national-level estimates or modelling describing numerical shortfalls
(FTE shortages) for these professions, publicly available information can
be found at the following link: [1]Health Workforce Plan 2024 – Health New
Zealand | Te Whatu Ora. Could you please confirm if this satisfies your
request for 1.2 or clarify the detail you are seeking further.
Please review the above and confirm if you are happy to receive the data
in this format, or if there are particular parts of the request you would
like refined further. This will help ensure we provide information that
best meets your needs.
Please note that under section 18(f) of the Official Information Act 1982,
requests requiring substantial collation or research may be refused, but
we aim to avoid this by working with you on refinements. Under section 15
of the Act, clarifications or amendments to a request within seven days of
receipt may be treated as a new request, which restarts the response
timeframe.
We would appreciate your response by 5pm, Friday 12 December.
Ngâ mihi,
Sacha
Government Services (OIA)
Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora
TeWhatuOra.govt.nz
Questions transferred to HNZ by MOH on 27 November 2025
"1. Workforce totals and FTE shortages (2018–2025)
For each calendar year 2018–2025, please provide the following for:
• Radiologists
• Radiation oncologists
• Medical oncologists
• Haematologists
• Anatomical pathologists
• Clinical/pathology scientists (e.g., histology, cytology,
haematology, microbiology)
• Medical imaging technologists (MITs)
• Sonographers
• Nuclear medicine technologists
1.1 Workforce numbers
• Total headcount
• Total employed FTE
• Total funded FTE
• Total vacant FTE
• Vacancy rate (%)
1.2 Workforce shortages
Please provide any national-level estimates or modelling describing the
numerical shortfall (FTE shortage) for each profession above.
If forecasting exists to 2030 or 2035, please include it.
5. Workforce attrition, illness, and early retirement
For each profession listed in section 1:
5.1 Annual exits
Number of staff leaving the workforce, broken into:
• Resignation
• Retirement
• Medical retirement
• Relocation overseas
• Non-renewal or change of scope
• Internal transfer out of specialty due to workload or
health reasons
5.2 Long-term sickness
Aggregated FTE lost to:
• Sick leave
• Long-term medical leave
• Occupational burnout
• ACC injuries (if applicable and non-identifiable)"
Statement of confidentiality: This email message and any accompanying
attachments may contain information that is IN-CONFIDENCE and subject to
legal privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use,
disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have
received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and
delete this message
References
Visible links
1. https://www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/publicati...
From: SPENCER JONES
Subject: Re: OIA Clarification – Radiology, Pathology & Oncology Workforce Shortages (Ref: Transferred from MoH, Nov 27, 2025)
Kia ora,
Tēnā koe for your prompt clarification on my OIA request transferred from the Ministry of Health on November 27, 2025. I appreciate Health NZ's collaborative approach under s15 of the Official Information Act 1982 to refine the scope and ensure a substantive response without invoking s18(f).
I confirm I am happy to proceed with the offered data format for sections 1.1 and 5, as it will provide valuable insights into workforce pressures:
Biannual snapshots (30 June and 31 Dec, 2018–2025) for the listed professions.
Metrics: Total Headcount/Employee Count; Contracted FTE; Vacant FTE; Vacancy Rate (%); Sick Leave Taken; Total Leavers.
This aligns closely with my public interest goals of mapping diagnostic bottlenecks in cancer care. Regarding potential mismatches for certain professions, please flag these in your response with brief explanations (e.g., data source limitations) to aid interpretation.
Two minor expansions to maximize utility without substantial additional collation:
If readily available, include "Total Funded FTE" alongside Contracted FTE—this would clarify resourcing gaps vs. actual deployment, as referenced in your Health Workforce Plan 2024 (which I have reviewed; it provides helpful high-level modeling but not profession-specific baselines).
For "Total Leavers," if aggregated breakdowns (e.g., resignation vs. retirement rates) exist in summary form from HR dashboards, please include; otherwise, confirmation of non-availability suffices.
For section 1.2 (national FTE shortfall estimates/modeling), the 2024 Plan partially satisfies my request with its forecasts to 2035. However, to complete the picture, please provide any supplementary internal estimates (e.g., from Te Whatu Ora's workforce analytics) that quantify current shortfalls for the listed professions—ideally as simple FTE gap figures per year, if held. If not, explicit confirmation is fine.
I request the data in Excel/CSV for tables (with PDF summaries if needed) to enable easy analysis. No personal/identifiable info is sought.
Please release by the statutory deadline (~Jan 15, post-holidays). If these tweaks trigger s18(f) concerns, let's discuss further.
Kind regards,
Spencer Jones
Via FYI.org.nz (Request #32915)
SPENCER JONES left an annotation ()
Annotation Title: Update: Health NZ Seeks Clarification on Radiology/Oncology Shortages Data – Progress Toward Release
Kia ora followers,
Quick update on this third-stage OIA in my cancer pathway series: Health NZ (Te Whatu Ora) responded today (Dec 8, 2025) with a constructive clarification, confirming they hold partial data on workforce vacancies, headcounts, sick leave, and leavers for radiologists, oncologists, pathologists, and imaging techs (2018–2025).
They're offering biannual snapshots (June/Dec) to avoid collation overload— a win for getting numbers out without delay. I've confirmed acceptance and nudged for minor extras like funded FTE gaps and basic leaver breakdowns, citing the public Health Workforce Plan 2024 (linked below) as a strong start on shortfall modeling. Expect data tables soon (post-holiday deadline ~Jan 15).
Why this matters: These metrics reveal if NZ's diagnostic "gatekeepers" (scans, biopsies, specialist referrals) are buckling under shortages—directly fueling late cancer diagnoses and FCT target misses. Early signs from related OIAs (#32912, #32913) suggest vacancy rates >10% in key roles, with outsourcing to private/Aus providers rising.
If you're a clinician, patient, or researcher affected by imaging/pathology waits, share anonymized experiences below—your input strengthens public interest cases for full transparency.
Resources:
Health Workforce Plan 2024: https://www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/publicati...
Faster Cancer Treatment Targets: https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/popu...
Join the series: Check #32913 (cancer delays/mortality) for cross-links.
Transparency builds better care—let's keep the pressure on.
Kind regards,
Spencer Jones
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SPENCER JONES left an annotation ()
PUBLIC-FACING ANNOTATION (FOR FYI.org.nz)
Why this Third-Stage OIA Matters
New Zealand’s cancer pathways and diagnostic services depend heavily on three highly specialised workforces:
• Radiology (CT/MRI/PET imaging, ultrasound, interventional radiology)
• Pathology (histology, cytology, haematology, microbiology)
• Oncology (medical, radiation, and haematological oncology)
These professions represent some of the most acute bottlenecks in the health system — and shortages here directly control how early cancers are detected, how fast patients are diagnosed, and how quickly treatment begins.
Across the country, patients and clinicians are reporting:
• long waits for CT, MRI, and ultrasound
• pathology turnaround times exceeding safe targets
• reduced theatre lists due to lack of pathology cover
• radiation therapy units unable to run at full capacity
• rising workloads and staff burnout
• outsourced imaging to Australia or private facilities
• delays in diagnosis leading to late-stage disease
Despite this, public access to national-level data is extremely limited.
This OIA seeks to establish, using only official datasets:
• how many radiologists, pathologists, oncologists, and imaging staff NZ actually has
• how many FTE positions are vacant
• how long people are waiting for scans and biopsy reports
• how large the diagnostic backlogs have become
• whether cancer pathways are breaching national standards
• whether internal risk reports warn of worsening cancer outcomes
• how equipment shortages or machine downtime impact care
The request is part of a three-stage OIA series designed to:
1. Assess health workforce exits & shortages
2. Examine cancer incidence, late diagnosis & mortality
3. Investigate specialist diagnostic bottlenecks that determine outcomes
These data will allow the public, the media, researchers, and policymakers to understand whether New Zealand’s diagnostic and cancer services are keeping pace with demand — or falling behind.
Link to this