Nurses say they're failing to keep patients safe because of staffing shortages, and the Government must take more action.
It comes as frontline health workers, ministers and officials met on Saturday to create a future workforce plan in a bid to avoid any repeat of the current crisis.
Health Minister Andrew Little told attendees "we're not going to fix everything today".
"But today will be the start of generating the ideas."
Ideas on how to avoid future shortages of healthcare workers as the current shortage is crippling the sector.
New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) president Anne Daniels told Newshub that the "talkfests" cannot continue.
"We are failing our patients because we cannot provide them with safe care," she said. "We actually have to act."
But a talkfest is what they got and action is being promised, as long as it fits within the budget.
"We have to make choices and set priorities and sometimes they are hard choices to make," Minister Little said.
The nurses union is hoping one of those priorities is pay parity because one in 10 public health positions is vacant.
"It is actually beyond crisis," said Daniels.
Northshore Hospital surgeon Dr Jonathan Koea said the system is "struggling at all levels".
The Auckland surgeon went to the Government's hui, calling for more Māori doctors.
"We have one Māori medical oncologist for the whole country. We don't have any Māori radiation oncologists working in the public system at all."
Although the Minister is workshopping with the health workforce, those workers say it should have happened a long time ago.
"Before the reforms - that way we'd be able to understand the capacity, the depth and the pressures, therefore proactively plan," said Nurse Union kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku.
"There was a lot of engagement in the lead-up to the reforms, about 500 different hui," Little said.
Healthcare workers now want more than just korero.
