Better naloxone delivery would reduce emergency department crowding, lower costs
In New Zealand, two urgent crises — the uneven reach of a life-saving overdose antidote and the quiet mental health collapse within the nursing workforce — have drawn over $2 million in public research funding to Massey University. Associate Professor Taisia Huckle and Dr Amanda Eng will each spend three years not prescribing solutions from above, but listening first: mapping gaps, gathering voices, and co-designing systems with the communities most affected. Their work reflects a growing recognition that the people living inside a problem often hold the clearest view of its shape — and that a healthcare system cannot sustain others if it cannot sustain itself.
- Synthetic opioids like fentanyl and nitazenes are driving a sharp rise in overdose deaths in New Zealand, even as the antidote naloxone has only recently become accessible without a prescription.
- Availability on paper and access in practice remain dangerously far apart — the people most at risk are often the least able to reach the services distributing naloxone.
- Meanwhile, nurses are experiencing elevated rates of burnout, depression, and suicide, yet the mental health supports available to them remain poorly understood and unevenly used.
- Huckle will map the real-world gaps in naloxone distribution and work with communities to redesign delivery, while Eng will survey 1,500 nurses and co-create culturally grounded care pathways.
- Both projects are landing at a moment when New Zealand's health research culture is shifting — toward community co-design and away from top-down expertise — with the potential to reduce emergency admissions, protect patients, and stabilise a strained system.
Two Massey University researchers have each secured over $1 million from the Health Research Council of New Zealand, directing their three-year projects at problems that have long simmered beneath the surface of the country's healthcare system.
Associate Professor Taisia Huckle is focused on naloxone — the medication that can reverse an opioid overdose within minutes. New Zealand has seen a steep rise in fatal overdoses, driven by the arrival of potent synthetic opioids. Though Medsafe removed prescription barriers in 2023 and Pharmac began community distribution, access remains uneven. Huckle's research will map where naloxone is and isn't reaching people, identify the structural and social obstacles in the way, and work alongside communities and health services to redesign distribution so it reaches those most at risk. The downstream benefits, she argues, include fewer emergency department admissions and a reduction in the cascading harms that follow an overdose.
Dr Amanda Eng is investigating a crisis closer to the heart of the system itself. New Zealand's nurses face elevated rates of anxiety, depression, burnout, and suicide — yet how they actually seek and receive mental health support remains poorly understood. Eng will survey 1,500 nurses, conduct in-depth interviews, and convene gatherings with nursing leaders and health sector stakeholders. The aim is to build a mental health care pathway designed specifically for nurses, grounded in evidence and shaped by the cultural realities of nursing work. Her framing is clear: this is not a gesture of care toward individuals, but essential maintenance for the healthcare system as a whole.
Together, the two projects signal something broader — a turn in New Zealand health research toward co-design, where communities and researchers work as partners rather than subjects and experts. The funding recognises what both researchers already believe: that the most durable solutions tend to emerge from the people living closest to the problem.
Two researchers at Massey University have won more than $2 million in competitive health research funding, each securing grants of over $1 million to investigate two urgent problems in New Zealand's healthcare system: the uneven distribution of a drug that saves lives from opioid overdose, and the mental health crisis quietly unfolding within the nursing workforce.
Associate Professor Taisia Huckle and Dr Amanda Eng received their awards from the Health Research Council of New Zealand in the latest funding round. Both projects will run for three years, and both take an unusual approach—rather than imposing solutions from above, they plan to work directly with the people most affected to design better systems together.
Huckle's work focuses on naloxone, a medication that reverses opioid overdoses within minutes. New Zealand has seen a sharp rise in fatal overdoses in recent years, driven largely by the arrival of extremely potent synthetic opioids like fentanyl and nitazenes. Until 2023, naloxone was locked behind prescription requirements that made it nearly impossible for people at risk to access. That changed when Medsafe removed those barriers and the government's pharmaceutical funder, Pharmac, began distributing naloxone through selected health services, opening community access for the first time. But availability and actual access are not the same thing. Huckle's research will map how naloxone is currently being distributed, identify what's stopping people from getting it, and work with communities and health services to redesign the system so it reaches those who need it most—particularly in areas where health disparities run deepest. The payoff, she argues, extends beyond lives saved in the moment. Better naloxone delivery would reduce emergency department crowding, lower costs, and prevent the cascade of harms that follow an overdose.
Eng's research addresses a different kind of crisis. New Zealand's nurses are struggling. The profession faces elevated rates of anxiety, depression, burnout, and suicide, yet little is known about how nurses actually access mental health support or whether the options available to them—including digital services—are working. Eng will survey 1,500 nurses across the country, conduct detailed interviews, and hold community gatherings with nursing leaders and health sector stakeholders to understand what's happening and what would help. The goal is to create a mental health care pathway designed specifically for nurses, grounded in evidence and responsive to the cultural context of nursing work. She frames this not as a favor to nurses, but as essential infrastructure for the healthcare system itself. When nurses are struggling, patient safety suffers and the whole system becomes fragile.
Both projects reflect a shift in how health research is being funded and conducted in New Zealand—away from experts deciding what communities need, toward researchers and communities figuring it out together. The funding recognizes that the best solutions often come from the people living inside the problem.
Notable Quotes
This work aims to strengthen overdose prevention and response for those at risk of opioid overdose, particularly within communities with higher health needs.— Associate Professor Taisia Huckle
Supporting the wellbeing of nurses is critical not only for the workforce, but also for patient safety and the sustainability of New Zealand's healthcare system.— Dr Amanda Eng
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does naloxone access matter so much if the drug itself is already available through health services?
Because availability and access are completely different things. A drug sitting in a pharmacy doesn't save anyone if the person who needs it doesn't know it's there, can't afford it, or feels too ashamed to ask. Huckle's work is about finding those gaps.
What changed in 2023 that made this research possible now?
Medsafe removed the prescription requirement and Pharmac started funding it. That opened the door. But now we need to understand whether that door actually leads anywhere for the people at highest risk.
The nursing mental health study sounds like it's treating nurses as a special case. Are they really that different from other workers?
They work in an environment where they're responsible for other people's lives every single shift, often understaffed, often traumatized by what they witness. The stress is structural, not individual. And when nurses burn out or leave, patient safety goes down.
Why involve nurses in designing the solution rather than just surveying them?
Because nurses know what would actually work in their lives. An outsider can design something theoretically perfect that no one will use. Co-design means the final pathway is something nurses helped build.
What happens if these studies show the problems are bigger than the solutions can fix?
Then at least we know the real shape of the problem, and we can advocate for systemic changes—more funding, staffing, policy shifts. Research that tells the truth is valuable even when it's uncomfortable.