Labour says it will guarantee a job in the public health system for every graduate nurse and increase the recruitment subsidy to address shortages in primary care.

Labour's health spokesperson Dr Ayesha Verrall said on Monday graduate nurses were being trained in New Zealand but looking overseas for their first job instead of starting their careers here.

During Question Time earlier this month, Health Minister Simeon Brown admitted the net increase in Health New Zealand full-time equivalent nursing staff between the quarters ending March 2024 and March 2026 was 54.

RNZ’s Checkpoint programme has previously reported about a nursing graduate who had applied for more than 100 nursing jobs without any luck.

"Patients shouldn't be left waiting in soiled beds. Nurses and doctors shouldn't be forced to work in conditions they describe as an 'absolute nightmare' because they don't have the staffing they were promised," Verrall said on Monday.

The party's policy document explained the jobs would be offered through the existing Advanced Choice of Employment and primary care employment schemes.

The jobs would be offered at graduation, rather than being staggered throughout the year, and would be for at least 0.8 full-time equivalent.

Last month, Health New Zealand's national chief nurse Nadine Gray told Checkpoint it was offering 1800 roles, and while it was supporting all graduate registered nurses into employment, it may not happen immediately and it had never been able to employ every graduate nurse.

Labour estimated under its policy 2400 nurses who graduate a year would get a job offer.

In 2025, Labour said fewer than half of graduating nurses were initially offered jobs through the Advanced Choice of Employment scheme.

The party would also double the funding for graduate nursing roles in primary care, from $20,000 to $40,000 in rural areas, and $15,000 to $30,000 in urban areas.

"Graduate nurses have invested years in their training. They deserve certainty that there will be a job waiting for them when they qualify," Verrall said.

All up, the policy would cost $525 million, which Labour said would come out of "health cost-pressure funding".

The general election will be held on November 7.