Photo: RNZ
Health NZ says that it has more than enough nurses available to work in the public hospital system, but financial constraints mean they cannot afford to employ them all.
Nursing students and recent graduates say they are being "failed" by Health NZ, which has employed just 45 percent of mid-year graduates.
Health NZ figures show just 323 of 722 applicants have got jobs in hospitals through its Advanced Choice of Employment Mid-Year matching process.
More than 36,000 nurses and other professions are striking for 24-hours from 9am over their pay offer and what they say is staff shortages.
Health NZ's acting clinical director Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard told Morning Report the agency needs to look at staffing levels 'in the round'.
"We're all in a fiscally constrained environment. Health NZ is fortunate at the moment we have plenty of nurses ready to work with us and we are keen to employ them where we can.
"What we need to do is look at our staffing levels in the round, it's not just about nursing, safe staffing is about everybody who delivers care for patients."
Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
She said safe staffing involves not just nurse numbers but is a process looking at every profession delivering care.
Asked if New Zealand had safe staffing levels, Stokes-Lampard said: "Health NZ is working towards achieving safe staffing wherever we can."
Health NZ was committed to doing what it could with what it has, she said.
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