About Us

Health Workforce New Zealand (HWNZ) was set up in 2009 to provide national leadership on the development of the country’s health and disability workforce.

HWNZ has overall responsibility for planning and development of the health workforce, ensuring that staffing issues are aligned with planning on delivery of services and that our healthcare workforce is fit for purpose.

It combines many of the workforce development functions formerly undertaken by the Ministry of Health and has assumed responsibility for the work of the Clinical Training Agency (now known as Investment Relationships and Purchasing).

HWNZ organisational structure

HWNZ is a business unit of the National Health Board. Its work is overseen by an independent board which is chaired by Professor Des Gorman with board members from business and across the health sector.

HWNZ is led by Director, Brenda Wraight (right) and is organised into three teams, workforce intelligence and planning, investment relationships and purchasing, and workforce innovations.

Brenda Wraight, Director of the Health Workforce New Zealand business unit, has been instrumental in the development of the national health workforce plan and works alongside the HWNZ board to provide strategic leadership of the health sector's workforce development and planning.  Her most recent roles have also been in workforce development management, including managing the Director-General of Health’s Commission on Senior Medical Officers (SMO) Recruitment and Retention, and Director-General of Health’s Commission on the Resident Medical Officers (RMO) Workforce.