Health Minister Shane Reti expects to see "substantive progress" on changes to the health sector's structure within the next 12-15 months before the next budget cycle.

The Government has already promised new funding for GPs and a redistribution of existing funding based on which practices deal with more complex needs. Reti said he aims to meet the Government’s health targets on cancer treatments, ED wait times and child immunisations by 2030.

Talking to the Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning, Reti was asked how material change would come if the Government had little money available to invest in the sector.

“Sometimes it's workloads," said Reti.

He used the example of patients needing to get hip surgery, or wait times in emergency departments - issues he said had ultimately been put down to deadlock.

"This year we're going to bring in more than 100 new beds and 80 new operating theatres to start relieving some of that deadlock. So yes, some of those things can change...some things are a workload problem. Why does a patient go from A to B to C instead of straight from A to C.

"The big structural changes I'd like to have substantive progress in the next 12-15 months, so the next budget cycle," he said.

Reti also said some change was already happening today - in the form of "the largest" cohort of “hundreds” of GP trainees. He said they are actively being mentored and seeing patients.

He also pointed to 50 more doctors being put through medical school, which he admitted was "a seven-to-ten-year payoff sort of thing".

Labour's spokeswoman for health, Ayesha Verrall had been previously critical of Reti's 2030 health targets, calling them ridiculous and that some of the goals should be achieved sooner.

Talking to Newstalk ZB Plus, Verrall – claimed the extra medical students and GP trainees were the results of initiatives by the former Labour Government.

"Dr Reti has not been able to answer questions about what urgent actions he is taking that will address work force gaps in the next year or two, despite campaigning on there being a health workforce crisis," she said.

"The government needs to continue to drive increases to health worker pay, as Labour did in government, but with a focus on community and general practice."

Verrall also said certain objectives were being missed.

"I'm concerned Dr Reti appears to be backing away from targets to increase the retention of nursing and midwifery students in courses by allowing Health New Zealand not to address the gaps in their workforce plan."

Reti, when asked by Hosking about Verrall's criticism of his Government's health sector objectives, said he wouldn't take advice from "someone who said targets weren't the focus of their health policy".

"If we look at some of the targets - immunisation 95% for 2-year-olds, we've never ever reached that target, we can't be more ambitious than that - the target's never been reached."

The Health Minister promised upon the coalition Government's election that he would not to undertake major structural change to the health system, with the exception of disestablishing the Māori Health Authority.

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

He said the College of GPs has told him if he makes major changes, it will fight him, so there'll be a period where the Government stabilises the sector and provide a clear direction of travel.