Health New Zealand's pointed to nursing recruitment to explain its ballooning deficit, but health experts aren't buying it.  

Newly released documents show the agency went from expecting a half a billion dollar surplus to a $1.4 billion deficit in April.  

That's now expected to blow out to $1.76 billion.  

Patient Voice Aotearoa chair Malcolm Mulholland told Ryan Bridge there's no way we have too many nurses in New Zealand.  

He says everywhere he goes in the community, people are saying we need more nurses and doctors.  

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