The new health minister has predicted his first 100 days in office will be challenging but has already made promises on what public sector staff can expect from his leadership.

Dr Shane Reti was sworn in yesterday before being whisked into meetings with key stakeholders merely 30 minutes later, he told the Mike Hosking Breakfast today.

His message on the state of the health sector echoes what the National Party frequently said during the election campaign - he called it a significant challenge.

"Unfortunately, despite the goodwill of our sector having done the hardest and best work they could, we are fundamentally broken and, no doubt, this is a crisis," he said.

Reti admitted progress to improve things in the health sector will be slow and will present hardships along the way, but he's adamant he'll be able to bring things to a better place.

Te Whatu Ora estimates the health system is 4800 nurses short, despite a 23 per cent jump in employment. Nurses have been voting for strike action all year amid frustration with the agency for not addressing concerns around safer staffing practices, nurse-to-patient ratios and health and safety.

Hosking asked Reti where he would start to repair the sector, to which the minister offered an immediate answer: "Our workforce".

"I can build buildings, I can do other things, but if you don't have the healthy workforce to staff it then it doesn't matter."

Reti said the priority would be to dive deep into recruitment, maintaining workers and building a longer pipeline into health.

“We were so late to open the day one pathway to residency that there's a potentially mobile group - they've gone to Canada, they've gone to Australia," said Reti.

"We all talk about 'well, we'll reach into the international pool' - the reality is that's a lot less to us.”

An immediately pressing issue is the countdown to Christmas and New Year, a season that typically brings drunken and disorderly behaviour that frontline health workers are forced to confront.

But Reti has made an early promise to his tenure. "People will not turn up boozed over Christmas and New Year and assault our staff, that is not going to happen," he told Hosking.

The minister said he'd had briefings yesterday about improving security measures to protect staff potentially vulnerable to such assaults.

"That will send a signal to staff 'we value you, we'll look after you' and it'll signal to the public that 'you will not turn up at public facilities, for staff looking to help you in your moment of need and assault them'. That will not happen."

Meanwhile, Reti vowed not to undertake any major structural change to the system, apart from disestablishing the Māori Health Authority - a commitment National made clear during the campaign.

The health system reforms, including scrapping 20 DHBs and replacing them with Te Whatu Ora, were widely criticised by National in opposition.

The sector is tired, Reti told Hosking.

"So, there's a period of time here where we'll stabilise the workforce, stabilise the sector and give it a clear direction of travel for health, and then we'll start to rebuild."