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The Ministry of Health has denied a request from Auckland University's School of Nursing to extend a nurse development programme by a year, urging the school to "just spend the money" on other things.
The programme, which runs until 2024, seeks to train and place nurse practitioners and enrolled nurses with a focus on mental health and addiction services.
The National Director of the programme, Dr Sue Adams, says the school receives about $2.6 million in funding each year to run the programme, but has underspent in the past year by about $1.5 million, mainly because of Covid-19.
When they asked the Ministry if they could extend the contract until 2025, making use of the underspend, the Ministry declined.
Adams spoke to Corin Dann.