Statement attributable Nadine Gray, Health New Zealand National Chief Nurse

There are a wide range of exciting roles available for graduate registered nurses and we’re encouraging students to look right across the health system when looking for their first job.

About 2,150 registered nurses (RNs) will graduate in 2025 with the first cohort ready to start looking for work and we’re looking forward to them joining the health sector.

Nursing offers diverse career pathways outside of hospitals, with interesting and challenging work that can contribute to making positive contributions to the lives of others.

More than 60% of practising nurses work outside the hospital system in primary, community, and aged care settings.

The Government is investing in expanding and strengthening the nursing workforce in primary and community care to support people to access health care where they live, across cities, towns, and rural communities.

The investment includes:

  • $30 million over five years to fund 400 graduate nurses into primary and community care each year, with providers receiving $15,000 for employing a nurse in an urban setting and $20,000 in a rural setting
  • $34.2 million over five years to fund 120 nurse practitioner training places in primary care each year from 2026
  • An additional $21.6 million over four years to accelerate advanced tertiary education for up to 120 primary care registered nurses annually.

Of the 2,053 RNs who applied to Advanced Choice of Employment (ACE) in 2024, 1732 (84.4%) found roles. 1,333 were employed by Health NZ and 399 graduate RNs were employed elsewhere.

Graduate RNs often look to hospitals for their first role, and while we are working to employ as many graduate RNs as possible, I want to make sure our graduate RNs are aware of the breadth of opportunities a nursing career brings.

I will soon host an information session about the exciting roles available for those graduate RNs who have just finished exams and are looking to begin their first year of practice.

We’re also working hard to make part-time nursing roles available for graduate RNs, as we know everyone’s life circumstances are different. Whether it’s in a hospital or a community setting, your first job is only the start of your career, and every practice setting contributes to building knowledge, clinical and critical thinking skills.

Our New Zealand-trained nurses are highly skilled, and we want to retain them. Health NZ remains committed to employing graduate RNs and will continue working to maximise employment opportunities across the sector.

The $164 million funding boost for urgent and after-hours care announced in Budget 2025 will result in an expansion of the primary and community health workforce over the next two years, opening new opportunities for graduate RNs.

Information for Graduate RNs

  • Graduate RNs looking for work should look for roles on job boards such as Trade Me (external link), Seek (external link) or local employer sites as well as through the ACE (external link) recruitment system
  • General information for graduate RNs can be found here
  • Health NZ has notified your tertiary provider of the dates for the upcoming information session which will be shared with you
  • Find information on the subsidies for primary and community providers to employ graduate nurses here

Stats and Facts

Health NZ Nursing Workforce

  • Since 2023 the number of individual nurses employed by Health NZ has increased by over 1,700 as at December 2024 to 34,888.
  • Nursing turnover has markedly decreased – from 14% in December 2022 to 8.6% in December 2024.

Graduate RN stats

  • Of the 2,053 RNs who applied to Advanced Choice of Employment (ACE) in 2024, 1732 (84.4%) found roles. 1,333 were employed by Health NZ and 399 graduate RNs were employed elsewhere.
  • Of the 2,253 RNs who applied to ACE in 2023, 1,897 (84.1%) found roles. 1,686 were employed at Health NZ and another 211 graduate RNs were hired elsewhere.
  • Health NZ provided funding to support the primary and community sector in November 2024 to employ 200 graduate RNs in those settings.
  • Most graduate RNs seek employment through the Health NZ-facilitated ACE process, which matches graduates with employers based on the preferences of both parties.
  • Of last year’s graduate RNs about 285 remain in the ACE talent pool and just under 200 have re-applied for the mid-year ACE process for 2025