Nursing graduates are confused and “heartbroken” after being sent job offers by Health NZ last week before having those offers retracted.

A large number of graduates who completed their Bachelor of Nursing degree at Wintec in Hamilton were emailed by Health NZ last week with offers of full-time employment in their region.

However, those emails were recalled around five minutes later.

Graduates sought clarification from the Nurse Entry to Practice Programme (NETP) and a week later were told by email that the offers were sent in error.

One graduate in the Waikato programme said he believed that the majority of his class of 88 students received the emails.

“It came as a bit of a shock,” he said. “A lot of people felt they were led with a carrot on a stick, and now they’re left in the lurch.”

The ACE Nursing organisation, which is responsible for matching graduates with employers, had told them they would be in contact when vacancies arose, but they were unsure how long this would take.

The graduate nurse - who asked to remain anonymous out of concern about his job prospects - said that when he began his degree, students were advised that if they went through the NETP they were practically guaranteed a job.

“Then the day of actually hiring comes and they don’t need nurses, apparently.”

Health New Zealand regional director Waikato Chris Lowry acknowledged the error, which appeared to be limited to the Waikato region.

“We made a mistake and we’re really sorry about what has happened,” Lowry said in a statement.

“We apologise to the nursing graduates involved and will be contacting them again to reassure them of our commitment to working on finding them placements.

“This was a human error, and we are sorry for the distress this has caused.”

Lowry said Health NZ had sought to place as many graduate nurses as possible nationwide. It would continue to support those who had not found jobs in the 2024 intake to find employment within Health NZ or the wider health sector.

Last month, the organisation’s leadership denied there was a hiring freeze after claims by a nursing union that graduate transition programmes were being paused.

Chief executive Margie Apa later said Health NZ was aiming to place 535 nurse graduates into roles across the health network by the end of June.

Another Waikato graduate said many of her classmates were told by ACE in mid-July that they had not been matched with an employer within Health NZ and would have to find jobs elsewhere.

A week later, she and many others received the apparent job offers and the recalled email.

“This is incredibly heartbreaking and the uncertainty for our future is unbearable,” she said.

They were “in the dark” about whether they should be applying in other regions or overseas, she said. She was considering moving to Australia, which has run aggressive recruitment campaigns for New Zealand nurses.

She said the latest intake of nurses began their degrees during Covid-19 and expected there to be high demand for their skills when they graduated.

“For years we have been told there is a shortage of nurses, you are doing the right thing, good job. And then you get to the end and are told, actually there is no budget for you.”

Data published by Health New Zealand shows the workforce has gained 1200 nurses in the last quarter alone.

At a press conference last week, Apa said Health NZ had been more successful than expected in recruiting nurses to fill a workforce shortage. The vacancy rate had fallen from 12-15 per cent when she took on the role to 6 per cent.

That led to an overspend on nurse recruitment which, along with pay equity increases, had contributed to a deficit at the organisation.

Isaac Davison is an Auckland-based reporter who covers health issues. He joined the Herald in 2008 and has previously covered the environment, politics and social issues.