Search
193 results matching “good medical practice”
-
Our "Good medical practice" publication provides guidance to doctors on the standards of practice we expect.
-
Council is reviewing the core ethical standards it sets for the profession, ensuring the standards reflect both patient expectations and the realities of clinical practice. As part of this work, we have sought feedback from patients and doctors and have now released two reports that reflect their views.
-
Our current standards set out the principles and values that define good medical practice, and outline what we expect from doctors in all aspects of their professional behaviour.
-
Our current standards set out the principles and values that define good medical practice, and outline what we expect from doctors in all aspects of their professional behaviour.
-
This section of our website contains expired versions of our standards.
-
We sometimes require that a doctor has a chaperone present to observe their consultations with patients. We do this to mitigate risk to the patient where there are concerns that the doctor poses a risk of harm or serious risk of harm to the public. This is different from when a chaperone is present as a matter of good medical practice.
-
Maintaining clinical records is part of good medical practice. Clinical notes are an important tool for managing the patient's care, and communicating with other doctors and health professionals. This statement guides doctors on what information they should record, and for how long they should retain patients' records.
-
We sometimes require that a doctor has a chaperone present to observe their consultations with patients. We do this to mitigate risk to the patient where there are concerns that the doctor poses a risk of harm or serious risk of harm to the public. This is different from when a chaperone is present as a matter of good medical practice.
-
The principal function of the Medical Council of New Zealand is to protect the health and safety of the public by ensuring that doctors are competent and fit to practise. We do this by setting standards of clinical and cultural competence and ethical conduct for doctors.
-
At the Medical Council of New Zealand, our role is to protect the public and promote good medical practice. Our current vacancies are listed below. If you would like to join a sector-leading organisation that continually strives for excellence, apply today! Please direct any enquiries about a vacancy to the contact person specified in the advertisement.
-
This page contains support information that relates to neither patients or doctors.
-
We serve Aotearoa New Zealand by protecting public health and safety. We do this by setting and promoting standards for the medical profession.
-
An audit of medical practice is a systematic, critical analysis of the quality of a doctor’s own practice, the results of which are used to improve clinical care and/or health outcomes, or to confirm that current management is consistent with the current available evidence or accepted consensus guidelines.
-
Prescribing medicines and treatment is an essential part of medical practice. This statement outlines what good prescribing practice involves and the legal requirements doctors must comply with.
-
If you're not working away from New Zealand but are just taking a break from medical practice, this page outlines what you need to do.
-
We may sometimes use terms you won't be familiar with. Find out here what they mean.
-
In some circumstances you can be restored to the medical register if your registration has been cancelled. See this page to check whether you are eligible for restoration to the register, and how to apply.
-
General practice is an academic and scientific discipline with its own educational content, research, evidence base and clinical activity, and a clinical speciality orientated to primary care. It is personal, family, and community-orientated comprehensive primary care that includes diagnosis, continues over time and is anticipatory as well as responsive.
-
Council is proud to have been one of the seven responsible authorities (RAs) that worked together to develop the Principles for Quality and Safe Prescribing Practice. Development of the Principles was a result of collaboration and partnership among RAs.
-
One of the ways the Council helps doctors to stay competent is by requiring them to participate in recertification programmes. Regular practice review (RPR) is one part of this continuing professional development.
-
Council is seeking feedback on a proposed change to its processes. Specifically, in relation to advice obtained from medical colleges regarding an international medical graduate’s (IMG) application for registration in a provisional vocational scope of practice.
-
The Medical Council of New Zealand (the Council) wants to ensure that recertification programmes for all doctors are robust, help assure the public that the doctor is competent and fit to practise, and improve the current high standards of practice of doctors in New Zealand.
-
All international medical graduates (IMGs) registered in a provisional general, provisional vocational and special purpose scope of practice must be supervised. This is to support their practice while they become familiar with the New Zealand health system and the expected standard of medical practice.
-
The professional services a doctor can perform in New Zealand are defined by the scope of practice for which they are registered.
-
The Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (HPCAA) requires us to specify the scopes of practice within which doctors are permitted to practice, and to describe and define the boundaries of each.
-
If you are registered and practising in a vocational scope only, you must participate in the recertification programme offered by the medical college or other approved recertification provider responsible for your vocational scope of practice.
-
Under sections 11 and 13 of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, Te Kaunihera Rata o Aotearoa | Medical Council of New Zealand (“Council”) gives notice of an amendment to the notice titled “Scopes of Practice and Prescribed Qualifications for the Practice of Medicine in New Zealand Notice 2024.
-
Under sections 11 and 13 of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, Te Kaunihera Rata o Aotearoa | Medical Council of New Zealand (“Council”) gives notice of an amendment to the notice titled “Scopes of Practice and Prescribed Qualifications for the Practice of Medicine in New Zealand Notice 2024.
-
This page sets out the recertification programme requirements for doctors registered and practising in the General scope of practice only. This is typically either participation in a medical college vocational training programme, or in the Inpractice recertification programme.
-
This report outlines the findings of our evaluation of the ‘Welcome to practice in Aotearoa New Zealand’ workshops for international medical graduates.
-
Under section 14 of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (“Act”), Te Kaunihera Rata o Aotearoa |
Medical Council of New Zealand (“Council”) gives notice of an amendment to the notice titled “Scopes of Practice and
Prescribed Qualifications for the Practice of Medicine in New Zealand Notice 2024” published in the New Zealand Gazette, 30 September 2024, Notice No. 2024-sl4580 -
You can apply to access the full medical register, but before you apply make sure you know what information the register holds. Whether your application is approved or not depends on what you want to do with the information.
-
Council is proposing to change the current requirement that international medical graduates registered in the special purpose teleradiology scope of practice must be supervised by doctors based in Aotearoa New Zealand.
-
You can apply for registration through this pathway if you have a primary medical degree from the UK or Ireland and have completed your internship within the UK or Ireland.
-
Te Kaunihera Rata o Aotearoa | Medical Council of New Zealand is committed to meeting Aotearoa New Zealand's healthcare demands by enabling highly qualified international and locally trained doctors to join the workforce through flexible and efficient registration pathways.
-
The Council and the Australian Medical Council (AMC) work together on accrediting the vocational medical training programmes offered by Australasian (joint Australian and New Zealand) vocational providers. If the applicant provider is seeking recognition in Australia (as an Australasian training provider), or if the scope is already recognised in Australia, stage 3 will be led by the AMC, with Council making a decision based on the AMC’s assessment.
-
Te Kaunihera Rata o Aotearoa | Medical Council of New Zealand’s latest quarterly workforce data shows that women now make up slightly more than half of practising doctors in Aotearoa New Zealand.
-
It is Council’s role to accredit and monitor specialist training providers and to promote medical education training in Aotearoa New Zealand. Council assesses Aotearoa New Zealand-based vocational medical training and recertification providers against these standards.
-
As part of ongoing work to ensure that registration policies are fit for purpose and enabling, Council is reviewing its orientation, induction and supervision guide. The current guide has been in place for several years. With the evolving nature of supervision, now is an appropriate time to review and revise it.
-
Te Kaunihera Rata o Aotearoa | Medical Council of New Zealand is inviting feedback on proposals for how PAs should be regulated in Aotearoa New Zealand.
-
It is important that we understand the composition and changes in our medical workforce, so that good planning decisions can be made. This pack brings together the key data that matters most.
-
Doctors get sick too, and when they do it's important that their illness doesn't interfere with their ability to practise medicine safely. A doctor must always be able to practise medicine without putting patients or the public at risk.
-
This pathway is for New Zealand and Australian medical graduates wanting to register within the Provisional General scope of practice to complete their internship.
-
We are seeking your feedback on the draft Professional standards for PAs. These draft standards propose the principles and values of good PA practice and the professional standards expected of PAs working in Aotearoa New Zealand.
-
The Performance Assessment Committee (PAC) is made up of two medical members and a lay member. The PAC can assess a doctor’s performance at any time.
-
Certificates of professional status (COPS) are documents used by medical professional regulators to share information about whether a doctor is in good standing. Doctors applying for registration, restoration or returning from practising outside New Zealand need to provide us with certificates of professional status.
-
Physician associates are trained health professionals who work under the supervision of a medical doctor to provide healthcare to patients.
-
How you apply for a practising certificate will depend on whether or not you are already registered in New Zealand, if you have worked in New Zealand before, and how long it has been since you last practised. If you already hold a practising certificate, please see our page on renewing your practising certificate instead.
-
Te Kaunihera Rata o Aotearoa | Medical Council of New Zealand has today released the results of the first Torohia — Medical Training Survey for New Zealand , giving new insights into the experiences of doctors in training across the motu.
-
The Council offers two clinical supervision courses for clinical supervisors and prevocational educational supervisors. The courses supplement training that supervisors receive from training providers and medical colleges. Courses are available to all supervisors through the ePort platform.
-
The Medical Council has today launched Torohia – Medical Training Survey for New Zealand, a new survey designed with the profession, for the profession, to better understand doctors’ experience of postgraduate training.
-
Doctors must meet the standards laid out in the Council’s statement on Good Prescribing Practice. (The Principles for Quality and Safe Prescribing Practice are already reflected in our statement on prescribing.) This document is a helpful resource, particularly for new doctors and IMGs new to New Zealand, that can be read alongside our statement. These principles were developed jointly by 7 responsible authorities.
-
Our registration application forms include a range of 'fitness for registration' questions. This page will help guide you should you need to make a declaration about any issues that might affect your fitness for registration.
-
Medical practitioners registered within the General scope of practice (or the Provisional General scope of practice, which precedes it) are typically resident doctors, resident medical officers (RMO) and doctors undergoing vocational training.
-
Medical practitioners registered within the General scope of practice (or the Provisional General scope of practice, which precedes it) are typically resident doctors, resident medical officers (RMO) and doctors undergoing vocational training.
-
FORM SUPERSEDED - Please use the new REG12 form
Application for a practising certificate for international medical graduates registered on a provisional vocational scope returning to medical practice in New Zealand -
This page contains the latest Medical Council notices published in the Gazette for Scopes of Practice, prescribed qualifications and Fees.
-
Regardless of your scope of practice, the basic process for registration as a medical practitioner in New Zealand is as outlined here.
-
Urgent care medicine (formerly known as accident and medical practice) is the primary care of patients on an after-hours or non-appointment basis, where continuing medical care is not provided.
-
If you are in a collegial relationship, you should use this form to record the details of any audits of your medical practice.
-
Supervision is a registration requirement for all doctors registered in a provisional general, provisional vocational or special purpose scope of practice. Supervision supports a doctor’s practice and enables their performance to be assessed while they become familiar with the New Zealand health system and the expected standard of medical practice.
-
List of our fees effective from 1 July 2025
-
This pathway is for New Zealand and Australian medical graduates who have successfully completed their internship in Australia and want to register within the General scope of practice.
-
APPLICATION FORM SUPERSEDED - Please use the new REG12 form
Application for a practising certificate for an IMG registered in a provisional general scope returning to medical practice in New Zealand. -
If you have concerns about a registered doctor, you can refer the matter to the Council.
-
Application for a practising certificate for doctors registered in a provisional or special purpose locum tenens scope who are returning to medical practice in New Zealand. This form supersedes the REG9 and REG11 forms.
-
Once a doctor successfully completes prevocational medical training and has received registration within a general scope of practice, a doctor is then eligible to enrol in a vocational medical training programme. Doctors undertaking this training are referred to as trainee doctors, and are usually employed as registrars.
-
If you are registered and practising in the provisional general scope as either a New Zealand or Australian medical graduate, or a doctor who has passed the NZ Registration Examination, you are required to complete prevocational medical training.
-
Doctors accompanying individuals or groups of people visiting New Zealand who will provide medical diagnosis, treatment or advice only to those individuals or groups, and who are not registered with the Medical Council will not be required to obtain registration and a practising certificate, so long as they restrict their practice to those individuals or groups for the duration of their visit.
-
Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) refers to therapies and treatments that are not commonly accepted in conventional medical practice, but are sometimes used alongside or instead of conventional medical treatments. This statement guides doctors in situations where their patients are using CAM, and outlines what we expect when doctors practise CAM.
-
If you are registered and practising in both the General and a vocational scope of practice, you need to meet recertification requirements in both scopes of practice.