The performance of New Zealand’s health system – from hospital staffing and resourcing to access to primary care and general practitioners – is a key election battleground once more.
Around 200,000 people, half of them Māori, have no GP. In the 2024-25 New Zealand Health Survey, one in seven adults (14.9%) reported not visiting a GP due to cost (25.1% for Pacific adults, 18.7% for Māori).
