New Zealand is a favoured destination for international medical graduates looking for postgraduate specialist training or just an interesting and enriching experience of working in Aotearoa, the Land of the Long White Cloud, as the Maoris like to call it. Each year tens or hundreds of house officers and registrars from UK, Ireland and Europe make their way across the world for a stint in one of the twenty district health boards which formally ran the the public hospital system of New Zealand and are now integrated into Health New Zealand.
New Zealand has a large public healthcare system which provides medical and dental care and public health for citizens and residents of New Zealand, free at the point of delivery. Over two thirds of healthcare is delivered by this system with one third of healthcare provided by the small private medical sector which is largely focused on elective and non emergency care. Te Whatu Ora, Health New Zealand replaced the 20 district health boards in 2022 and is responsible for running public healthcare. Most junior doctors work in the public sector which offers standard conditions of service and remuneration. If you wish to read more about New Zealand's healthcare system, read this International Healthcare System Profile of New Zealand. There are many projects throughout the healthcare system rebuilding hospitals partially or completely or redeveloping service delivery. This creates opportunities for work, training and experience.
Before applying to work as a junior doctor in New Zealand, you should check your eligibility for provisional general registration with the Medical Council of New Zealand, the national professional regulatory authority. There are several pathways to registration depending upon your country of study for medical degree and subsequent employment.
The recent change implemented by the MCNZ allowing PLAB candidates to work as PGY 1 house officers sounds promising but in our experience, few PLAB candidates are successful in obtaining PGY1 house officer jobs. Hospitals are encouraged to employ local New Zealand graduates and NZREX candidates who are already based in New Zealand and have largely been able to fill all vacant positions without recourse to international recruitment. However, PLAB candidates can readily obtain employment at the level of PGY2 after completing 12 months work experience in the UK.
House officer and registrar jobs at the level of PGY2 and above are readily available throughout the country in most specialities and can be obtained with ease. It is a better use of time to focus on securing a PGY 2 position than making endless fruitless PGY1 job applications.
The MCNZ has consistently required that the 33 months experience be in the same speciality as the physician wishes to practise in New Zealand. In practice, an applicant for a registrar post in paediatrics required 33 months experience in paediatrics at the same or equivalent or more senior level in one of the 24 countries with comparable healthcare systems.
Recently the wording of this requirement was changed to "the same or similar speciality". However there is no definition of what constitutes a "similar speciality" detailed on the MCNZ website and the MCNZ admits that no definition exists. The decision as to what specialities can be deemed "similar" is made by a committee within the MCNZ and appears to be arbitrary.
For doctors applying to work in New Zealand, it is not advisable to rely on this revised wording and we would recommend that you complete the full 33 months in your speciality of practice before applying for jobs and registration with the MCNZ.
The advantages of the EPIC Report are that it need only be done once and that the report can be used for multiple applications in jurisdictions around the word. So if New Zealand does not work out and you decide to go for Australia, Singapore,, UK, Ireland or Canada instead, you can use the same report.
Read our article on EPIC Report applications for some guidance and do contact us if you need some guidance.
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