The Ministry of Health got its figures mixed up and gave some district health boards too much of the total budget allocation, it has been revealed.

Labour's David Clark says Health Minister Jonathan Coleman "stuffed up" but the minister says it was ministry officials who didn't get the allocations right.

The total funding hasn't changed but about $38 million of budget money was wrongly allocated and 14 DHBs were given too much.

"They got it wrong," Dr Coleman told NZ Newswire.

"Chai Chuah (director-general of health) has owned up to that on behalf of the ministry and I've made it clear that it's unacceptable."

Dr Coleman says it's frustrating and he's sure opposition parties will try to make a big deal of it.

"It should have been a simple exercise," he said.

"I'm frustrated because they do a lot of good work and this undermines it."