The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) and Public Service Association (PSA) said a frontline freeze had taken place.
This followed an announcement by Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora (HNZ) in mid June of an immediate pause on hiring all non-frontline roles.
Southern group director of operations Hamish Brown did not answer questions about how many nursing vacancies there were at Dunedin Hospital and how many were being recruited at present.
However, he said nursing appointments "continue to be made", both at Dunedin Hospital and throughout the wider national health system.
There were more than 1300 fulltime equivalent (FTE) nurses employed at the hospital, he said.
"We are currently working through the new regional recruitment process as we are continuing to employ staff across the Southern district, and in May and June 2024 offers of employment were made for 51.5 FTE nursing roles."
The NZNO said it was "very clear" recruitment had stopped for frontline nursing, as reported by the ODT earlier this week.
It accused HNZ of putting money ahead of people, and said nurses were struggling in Dunedin and throughout the country.
The PSA, which represents more than 25,000 health workers including nurses, also said the current reality was "a freeze on recruitment for all roles".
The union was concerned processes had stopped without a clear timeframe of when they would resume.
Mr Brown said recruitment for clinical roles was moving from a national approval process to regional management — Southern would be part of a South Island recruitment forum.
In April, HNZ confirmed public hospitals had been given the target of saving a combined $105million by July.
Southern was ordered to save $9m — 1.2% of the district’s annual budget — within that timeframe.
Another push for savings followed, with an email from HNZ chief executive Margie Apa last month stating the organisation was spending over its current year budget.
The email announced an immediate hiring freeze for all non-frontline roles, and a new forum for approving recruitments.
"These new measures will not impact frontline services", it said.
HNZ did not answer questioning by the ODT on when the hiring freeze was set to end.
