"We're concerned about the impact of cutting a further 135 jobs at the Ministry of Health on top of the 201 jobs the government cut at the Ministry last year," says Public Service Association national secretary Brenda Pilott.

The Ministry of Health has today told staff about a restructuring proposal that will enable the establishment of a new National Health Board within the Ministry. A Shared Services Agency, Health Workforce New Zealand and the Quality and Safety Improvement Commission are also being established.

The Ministry says the restructuring will cut 35 jobs by end of this financial year on June 30 and a further 100 jobs will be cut by July 1 2011.

The Ministry of Health overseas the spending of $12.9 billion allocated to our health system by the government. The Ministry's annual budget is $217 million, 1.7% of total health spending.

"The Ministry of Health has a massive job overseeing the spending of billions of dollars to meet the health needs of all New Zealanders," says PSA national secretary Brenda Pilott. "Staff at the Ministry are very concerned about the impact cutting hundreds of jobs will have on the Ministry's ability to oversee the $12.9 billion the government is spending on our health services this financial year."

"With 201 jobs cut last year and another 135 job cuts announced today, can the government guarantee that this will not weaken the Ministry's ability to do work the whole country relies on?"

"Can the government assure New Zealanders that this restructuring will not lead to the Ministry losing skilled and experienced staff needed to run our health system?"

"Health workers and the health system have been through numerous restructurings over the years."

"Here's another expensive and disruptive restructuring with no guarantee that this will improve the delivery of health services."

"We recognise that there's always scope to make improvements in the delivery of any service."

"But we question whether spending a lot of time and money re-inventing the wheel, as we've done so many times in the health sector, is going to achieve this."

"Ministry of Health staff work hard and are committed to providing New Zealand with a world class health system." "We will be working to ensure that Ministry staff are treated fairly and transparently through the restructuring process," says Brenda Pilott.