This sheet provides information on how Professional Conduct Committees (PCCs) request information, what powers they must obtain information, what they do with information they receive, and answers some frequently asked questions.

Where a doctor wishes to resume practice in New Zealand, but has not held a New Zealand practising certificate within the last 3 years, the doctor does not have an automatic entitlement to a practising certificate. Council must consider such applications on a case by case basis.

Guide on how to use myMCNZ including how to access it, how to update your details, how to request a COPS and how to renew your practising certificate.

In order to practise medicine in New Zealand you must be both registered and hold a current practising certificate. This policy outlines Council's rules around practising certificates.

This document provides general advice to employers (including Te Whatu Ora | Health New Zealand and some PHOs) about their responsibilities as an employer of a doctor.

This handbook is intended as a guide for doctors undergoing performance assessments and aims to provide you with an understanding of how performance assessments work,
and to ensure that there are no surprises for you throughout the assessment process

We are reviewing our statement on a doctor’s duty to help in a medical emergency and would value your feedback. This statement discusses a number of factors doctors should consider when responding to a medical emergency.

All doctors have a duty to act on their concerns about another doctor, but doctors in management roles have an extra responsibility to ensure that there are appropriate reporting procedures in place, and these procedures are known to staff who may need to use them. This statement provides guidance for doctors who are concerned about a medical colleague's conduct, performance, competence or health, and provides suggestions on what to do and who to approach.

This draft statement sets out legal and ethical considerations as a doctor when responding to a medical emergency. It also discusses a number of factors you should consider when you attend to a medical emergency, whether that emergency is within a healthcare facility, or in a non-clinical setting, such as in the community.

This policy explains the requirements you will have to meet if you are registered in the general scope, or in a vocational scope of general practice, and you wish to perform tumescent liposuction.

This is an updated draft version of the statement which we're consulting on. Please see the consultation section of our website for more information including how to provide feedback.

A Review of Prevocational Training Requirements for Doctors in New Zealand: Stage 2 - A second consultation paper on the proposed changes to prevocational training

Doctor-patient relationships can come to an end for a variety of reasons, commonly when the patient moves to another area or chooses to see another doctor, but also when the relationship breaks down and either the doctor or patient decides to discontinue the professional relationship. We outline in this statement the process for discontinuing patient care, and the need to do so in a fair and professional manner.

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.

There is a potential for health-related commercial organisations to influence how doctors practise and the clinical decisions they make. We are reviewing our statement on doctors and health-related commercial organisations and would value your feedback.

During the course of a medical career, a doctor may be involved in management or have a leadership role. This statement outlines the standards doctors are expected to meet when they take on such roles. While doctors in a leadership role have a duty to their workplace and the wider community, their first consideration must always be the interests and safety of patients.

Prevocational Training Requirements for Doctors in
New Zealand: a discussion paper on options for an enhanced training framework

Health-related commercial organisations share some common goals with doctors: they seek to prevent, control, cure and manage diseases, or physical and mental conditions, and may conduct research to improve and advance health care. However, health-related commercial organisations can also have different and potentially conflicting goals in that generating a profit is often a principal goal whereas a doctor’s primary concern must always be the care of patients. This statement outlines our expectations when doctors interact with health-related commercial organisations, and provides guidance on recognising, assessing and managing conflicts of interest (including perceived conflicts of interest) that may arise.

This pamphlet explains the role of a Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) and what to expect if you are referred to a PCC.

Half of the APC (practising fee and disciplinary levy) will be refunded to doctors earning $20,000 or less per annum from the practice of medicine in New Zealand or overseas.

Manatū Hauora - The Ministry of Health (the Ministry) is proposing that the Physician Associate (PA) profession be regulated under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance (HPCA) Act 2003. This document outlines the details of this proposal.

This guide outlines why doctors may have conditions on their practice, how to find out if a doctor has conditions, and what some of the different types of conditions mean for you as a patient.

As the regulator of the medical profession, the Medical Council of New Zealand (the Council) plays a key role to ensure public safety and to assure and maintain public trust and confidence in the profession; including that doctors continue to maintain high standards of competence.

This form outlines the additional information that will be required by the CICM so they can provide us with advice on your application for vocational registration in intensive care medicine.

Some pathways to registration require doctors to have completed their internship in a particular country. If you are applying for registration and did your internship somewhere else, this policy outlines how we will assess your suitability for registration.

This form outlines the additional information that will be required by the ACEM so it can provide us with advice on your application for vocational registration in emergency medicine.

This form outlines the additional information that will be required by the ACEM so it can provide us with advice on your application for vocational registration in emergency medicine.

Form that needs to be completed in order to apply for a partial refund of your practising certificate fee if your income for the year was below the threshold.

If you're applying for registration in the vocational scope and did your postgraduate training outside of New Zealand and Australia, this policy outlines the rules that will apply when we consider your application.

Internet, email, and other forms of electronic communication are ways in which doctors communicate with patients and other health professionals, find information, and participate in informed discussion. This statement guides doctors on the use of email and other forms of social media.

Recertification programme providers are expected to work towards these strengthened recertification requirements for vocationally-registered doctors, with implementation completed by 1 July 2022.

This policy outlines the requirements you must meet in order to be issued a general scope without limitations.

Patients are entitled to information about their health and the care they are receiving. This statement outlines what we expect of doctors when helping patients to make an informed decision about their care and treatment.

This statement outlines the doctor's responsibility to maintain sexual boundaries with patients, includes advice on what to do if boundaries are threatened, and offers guidance on sexual relationships with former patients and with family members of patients.

This document is a guide for interns and includes information on what MSF is about and step-by-step instructions to complete the process.

This guidance explains what doctors should consider when using artificial intelligence (AI) in patient care. Because AI is increasingly being used in medical practice, it is essential that doctors do so ethically and responsibly, to ensure patient safety and the privacy of health information.

This document aims to clarify matters relating to the amended start date and changes to dates for intern clinical attachments for the year commencing at the end of 2020.

This document outlines the policy, process and guidelines for recognition of a new vocational scope of practice.

Draft document for consultation. In this document we advise doctors on how they can support the achievement of best health outcomes for Māori. We also provide guidance for healthcare organisations on how to support Māori health equity.

Vaccination is a crucial part of the New Zealand public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Health practitioners can help to protect themselves, their patients, and the wider community by getting their COVID-19 vaccination.

Under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, responsible authorities such as the Medical Council undergo regular independent reviews of how they are carrying out their statutory functions. The Act requires responsible authorities to publish their review report on their website.

In this issue of Medical Council News, we look at outcomes and initiatives from the Council’s planning day, our discussion paper Better Data – the benefits to the profession and the public, Council’s revised Statement on advertising, doctors’ responsibilities around aviation safety and the need to provide more detail on medical certificates.

Council, in partnership with Te Ohu Rata o Aotearoa (Te ORA), jointly hosted a highly successful symposium on cultural competence, partnership and health equity on 25 June 2019. The theme of the symposium was Mahia te mahi, hei painga mō te iwi, Getting the job done for the wellbeing of the people. The event aimed to investigate ways of working together to improve cultural safety in order to work towards eliminating health inequities. This booklet brings together the presentations and whakaaro shared at the symposium.

Policy for doctors registered in the special purpose postgraduate training scope in relation to working nights.

This policy gives an overview of the rules we apply in deciding whether to register a doctor in New Zealand. There will also be a specific policy that applies to the pathway you are registering under and the two policies should be read together.

This pamphlet explains the role of a Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) and what to expect if your notification about a doctor is referred to a PCC.

This document outlines Council's decision around the Practising Certificate Fee and Disciplinary Levy for 2020/2021 and the reasons for this decision.

We recognise Taiwanese medical schools so that graduates from these schools have the opportunity to undertake NZREX Clinical. We must ensure we only register fully qualified doctors. However, the exclusion of Taiwanese medical schools from WDOMS is due to political factors and not the standard of those schools. The ECFMG has approved graduates of these schools to undertake the prerequisite examination - USMLE Steps 1 and 2.

This document covers a number of NZREX-related policies including pass criteria, serious concerns and critical incidents, request for resits, feedback, and recount of results.

Māori experience disparities in outcomes compared to the rest of the population across nearly all areas of health due to inequity in determinants of health, including access to quality health care. This document outlines Council’s position on how doctors can support the achievement of best health outcomes for Māori. It also provides guidance for healthcare organisations to support cultural safety and Māori health equity. This document should be read in conjunction with Council’s Statement on cultural safety.

Practice intentions - To be completed by doctors applying for a PC to return to work after an absence of three or more years

This consultation document is seeking stakeholder feedback on the Medical Council of New Zealand’s (Council) proposal to gazette an increase to the practising certificate (PC) fee and disciplinary levy, to be effective from 1 September 2020.

This document is a guide for prevocational educational supervisors on how to support their interns to complete the MSF process and provides information on how to interpret the collated report before discussing the results with their interns.

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.

Doctors are often asked to sign certificates for a wide range of purposes, such as confirming sickness, impairment or death. This statement outlines factors to consider, and the standards that doctors must follow, when issuing a medical certificate.

We've drafted these standards to align with new recertification requirements. They will be effective from 1 July 2022. Before this time, providers will need to show evidence they are progressing towards implementing these requirements.

The purpose of this statement is to protect the public from advertising that is false, misleading or deceptive, and to
provide guidance to doctors about the advertising of health-related products and services.

The purpose of these principles is to provide a framework for good decision-making about notifications assessed and managed by the Council. The principles are not intended to cover every specific scenario but rather provide guidance in how notifications should be assessed and managed. The framework applies to the decisions of the Notifications Triage Team (NTT) and of Council.

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.

As a doctor, you have an obligation to be respectful and professional as your behaviour may affect how a health team functions, how care is delivered to patients, and the public’s trust and confidence in the medical profession. If you have concerns about the conduct, competence or safety of a doctor’s practice, you should notify the Medical Council.