Campaigner Melissa Vining says it's "really sad" Andrew Little has refused to describe the state of New Zealand's health system as a "crisis".
Vining, a prominent health campaigner who founded the Southland Charity Hospital with her late husband and cancer care campaigner Blair Vining, accused Health Minister Little of not listening to the workforce about the current state of the system.
Speaking to AM, Melissa said the sector had been trying to tell Little just how tough the health workforce was doing.
"I think that it's really sad that minister Little isn't listening to the call from all the medical professionals; doctors, nurses, carers… are trying to tell him that this is genuinely a crisis and the fact that he won't acknowledge that makes me feel really sad."
Melissa said the much-needed health forms won't have any impact if those on the front line weren't listened to.
Her comments come after it was revealed earlier this week nursing students were working at Dunedin Hospital to make up for staffing shortages usually filled by qualified nurses and being paid $200 Countdown vouchers.
In a tense interview with AM host Ryan Bridge earlier this month, Little wouldn't label the health workforce as in crisis but conceded it was under pressure.
"The reality is: we have a health system that is under major pressure - has major challenges," he said. "In the less than two years I've been minister, I've been told of multiple crises in the system - the term is debased in health, at the moment.
"What's most important is that I, and this Government, recognises the serious pressure and problems the health system has - we've done that and that's why, in the five years we've been in Government, we've added 5500 clinically qualified people to our health system, it's why we've increased funding to the extent that we have.
"We've put in billions of extra dollars every year into the system to address the gaps and address the issues that are there, and the shortcomings that are there.
"The reason we changed the health system is that we had a system that was simply incapable of managing the chronic problems."
Earlier this month, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation called for an urgent conference to address the health care crisis.
