Planning your Medical Career

The medical workforce has grown by 15.2 percent in the past five years. There are 14,395 doctors
with annual practising certificates registered with the Medical Council of New Zealand (MCNZ), up
from 12,493 in 2009.

Medical workforce statistics

Medical workforce*
+

Age 50+

14,395
(including
3124 GPs)

38.9%

Size

Gender split
Female
Male

41.4%
58.6%

Ethnicity
European
Mori
Pacific

Annual practising certificates as of mid-2014.

Main place of employment

95.3%
2.9%
1.8%

Workplace^
Public
Private
Other

54.4%
29%
16.6%

Qualified outside
New Zealand
43.4%

Almost 40 percent of doctors are aged 50 or over, up from 34 percent in 2009. In 2010, the
largest group was aged between 45 and 49. Since 2011, the largest age group has been 50 to
54-year-olds. The gender gap is closing with women making up 41.4 percent of the workforce
(39.1 percent in 2009) and outnumbers men among new doctors.
45 percent of female doctors, and 28 percent of male doctors, are under 40 years
At September 2014, 50.5 percent of all resident medical officers (RMOs) were female:
o 58 percent house officers
o 62 percent senior house officers
o 46 percent registrars.
The trend is to work shorter hours with the average across all specialities 43.1 hours a week.
MCNZs 2012 workforce survey the latest available showed that GPs worked on average 37.3
hours a week, down from 40+ a decade ago.

Medical graduates

An additional 200 New Zealand Government-funded (domestic) medical student places were
phased in from 2008.
In 2013, for the first time, there were more applicants than vacancies as the first graduates of this
expansion in student numbers joined the workforce.
All 376 domestic medical graduates were offered a placement in 2013 and 397 domestic medical
graduates in 2014.
The number of domestic medical graduates is expected to be 426 in November 2015 and 485 in
2016.
A community based placement for post graduate year (PGY) 1 and 2 trainee doctors will
progressively be implemented during 2015. This is consistent with implementation of the
MCNZs revised prevocational programme from December 2015 that requires PGY1 and 2 trainee
doctors to complete a 13-week clinical attachment in a community-based setting.

Medical workforce modelling

To help trainee doctors make informed decisions when choosing a specialty, Health Workforce
New Zealand is modelling the medical workforce pipeline in a joint project with key stakeholders.
The priority is to ensure that domestic medical graduates find work and progress their careers in
New Zealand.

Medical Student information - Health Workforce New Zealand January 2015

General Practice

Prospects are particularly good for general practice especially in rural areas, as New Zealand's
population grows and ages. There are 69 GPs per 100,000 New Zealanders, up from 58 in 2009,
but more are desperately needed. There are 172 GPs are in training in December 2014,
compared to 125 in 2013.
The increasing role of community care, with rising numbers of people living with long-term
conditions and co-morbidities, means a growing need for GPs.
The nature of the GP role has changed. In the past GPs owned their own practices, provided 24
hour cover and practised obstetrics. A survey of rural GPs ten years ago found that the majority
over 60 years of age worked full-time, provided after-hour cover and had no plans to retire in the
next five years. In contrast, 30 percent of those aged under 50 were planning to retire by age 55.
This trend has continued in general practice, with the majority now being female, often working
on salaries for two or three sessions per week, taking time out to have children and planning early
retirement.
This makes general practice a desirable career for flexibility of working hours and work/life
balance. However the changing demographics means that there is an increasing demand for
GPs to join the workforce. At least two trainees are needed to replace most retiring GPs.

Other specialties

Trainee doctors who choose to train in other specialties such as general surgery, internal
medicine, pathology, psychiatry and rural hospital medicine will also have better job
prospects.
Prospects may be limited for specialties including emergency medicine, urgent care and
paediatrics. These specialties currently have high ratios of trainee doctors to senior staff and
competition for training positions and jobs will be fierce if this trend continues.

Further information

To assist domestic medical students and graduates making informed career decisions, the
kiwihealth jobs website http://www.kiwihealthjobs will, from February 2015 progressively include
Specialty Factsheets providing medical colleges specialty training programme information and
labour market data.
o Career Planning: http://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/health-workforce/career-planning
o Kiwihealth website: http://www.kiwihealthjobs.com/rmo/medical-workforce-pipeline

Sources

Health Workforce New Zealand http://healthworkforce.health.govt.nz/home.

Medical Council of New Zealand https://www.mcnz.org.nz/.
Representative colleges http://www.cmc.org.nz/about-us
DHBs Resident Medical Officer Workforce Collection Profile September 2014.
Goodyear-Smith F, Janes R. The New Zealand rural primary healthcare workforce in 2005: it is more than
just a doctor shortage, Australian Journal of Rural Health, 16: 40-46, 2008
The role of Health Workforce New Zealand and Health of the Health Workforce 2013/14 publications
http://www.health.govt.nz/publication/role-health-workforce-new-zealand

Medical Student information - Health Workforce New Zealand January 2015