Policy
Statement

Sections 16(a) and (b) of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 require the Medical Council to ensure that any person given registration to practise medicine in New Zealand is able to communicate in and comprehend English sufficiently to protect the health and safety of the public, and for the purposes of practising within a scope of practice in which they are registered.

Rationale

Candidates applying to sit NZREX Clinical, and applicants for registration or assessment for registration, must have a reasonable ability to comprehend and communicate effectively in English in the medical workplace, as one of the pre-requisites for registration.

Requirements

Doctors applying to sit NZREX Clinical, and doctors applying for registration, will be required to have achieved an overall band of 7.5 or above in the academic module of International English Language Testing System , within the last:

• two years for new applicants and new NZREX candidates, or
• five years for repeat NZREX candidates.

A minimum band of 7 is required in each of the four individual components of the test (listening, reading, writing and speaking).