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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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)