Four out of five health workers reported cuts and restructuring had damaged the services they deliver, which the PSA said refutes the government's claims the cuts won't affect the front-line.
Health New Zealand is trying to cut $660 million this year, through voluntary redundancies, the "consolidation of roles" and "streamlining" departments such as finance, HR, data and digital, and infrastructure and investment
Former chief executive Margie Apa said in 2024 that it would be extending its cost cutting to last three years and signalling more voluntary redundancies, while reporting a deficit of more than $700 million.
The union said Health New Zealand had restricted hiring since June 2024, with health care workers reporting significant delays trying to replace workers and some vacancies not filled at all.
But Health NZ acting chief executive Dr Nick Chamberlain said there was no hiring freeze.
"Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora employs a workforce of over 90,000 highly skilled and experience professionals, and this workforce does fluctuate," Chamberlain said.
He said for non-clinical roles, Health New Zealand was recruiting where the role was essential "to achieve our priorities including the health targets."
Documents obtained by the Green Party under the Official Information Act last year showed officials warned the previous Health Minister Shane Reti targets would go unmet without additional funding.
IT engineer and PSA delegate Bernd Wachter is one of about 1100 data and digital staff facing redundancy under the 'reset' proposal.
He said there was no question data and digital staff were front-line workers.
"To call Te Whatu Ora data and digital staff back room staff, and to suggest the service can function equally well with roughly half of the present staff numbers, is simply insulting to me, but most of all it's recklessly misleading the public."
Wachter said a lack of investment over time had created a "digital debt".
"Many systems are old, some are out of date, some are not compatible with current operating systems and so on, it's a problem."
He had no doubt how grave the problem will become if Health New Zealand went ahead with its proposal to halve his team.
"If you know enough about the IT services within Health New Zealand, you can confidently predict that if the proposed cuts are implemented, people will needlessly die while in the care of Health New Zealand. This is inevitable. "
The survey found 86 percent of health workers said cuts will make it harder for people to get healthcare, while 72 percent agreed health was underfunded.
"The survey is chilling reading for New Zealanders who have been promised by the Government's repeated rhetoric that its cuts would not impact front-line health services," Public Service Association national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said.
The union is taking Health NZ to the Employment Relations Authority in an attempt to staunch the cuts, including those to the data and digital directorate, the National Public Health Service and the Pacific directorate.
