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316 results matching “how long are you given if”
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To practise medicine in Aotearoa New Zealand you must be registered and have a practising certificate. There are various registration pathways, depending on your qualifications, training, experience, and whether you intend to work in Aotearoa New Zealand permanently or just for a short time for a specific purpose.
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Doctors are often asked for input by their family and friends. This may include requests for medical advice or a prescription, or more substantial involvement such as performing a procedure. This statement explains why doctors must avoid treating themselves and those they have a close personal relationship with.
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Under the HPCAA, doctors can have their competence or performance reviewed at any time, or in response to concerns about their practice. This guide outlines what you can expect if you are undergoing a performance assessment
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Council is pleased to publish its revised statement on Treating yourself and those close to you (previously Providing care to yourself and those close to you), in effect from 14 October 2024.
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If you have concerns about a registered doctor, you can refer the matter to the Council.
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Earlier this year we sought feedback on the draft statement on Treating yourself and those close to you. A wide range of submissions was received from key stakeholders across the profession and some common themes emerged. Council has revised this statement taking into account your feedback.
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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.
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This pamphlet explains the role of a Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) and what to expect if you are referred to a PCC.
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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.
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This page outlines how the process of renewing your practising certificate works and what to do if your certificate is about to expire and you haven't heard from us.
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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.
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This dashboard page contains information around how long doctors remain in New Zealand after their initial registration.
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In some circumstances you can be restored to the medical register if your registration has been cancelled. This page outlines how to apply to be restored to the register.
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Every doctor in New Zealand must be registered to practise medicine. If you are not eligible for registration under any other pathway, you must sit and pass the NZREX Clinical, our registration examination.
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If you, as an international medical graduate (IMG), apply for vocational registration and your application is successful, you will have to complete a provisional vocational registration period. You'll work under supervision for this period, during which we make sure you're competent to practise independently in your chosen field of medicine.
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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.
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Did you know over 70% of doctors registered in the past year were trained overseas — bringing skills from 63 countries to Aotearoa. But to truly strengthen our health system, it’s not just about recruitment — it’s about supporting doctors to stay.
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To ensure that you are continuing to maintain your competence to practise medicine, you must meet recertification programme requirements set by Council, including any minimum continuing professional development (CPD) requirements.
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Whenever you use a health or disability service in New Zealand, you are protected by the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights (Code of Rights). The Code of Rights applies to both public and private facilities, and to both paid and unpaid services. It gives you as a patient, the right to be treated with respect, receive appropriate care, have proper communication, and be fully informed so you can make an informed choice.
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Council is pleased to announce that from 1 November 2024, international medical graduates (IMGs) with an approved postgraduate medical qualification, intending to practise in Aotearoa New Zealand in an approved area of medicine, can apply for specialist registration via a new fast-track registration pathway.
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Regardless of your scope of practice, the basic process for registration as a medical practitioner in New Zealand is as outlined here.
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A Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) is an investigatory body appointed by the Council. Its purpose is to investigate matters and concerns referred to it by the Council about a registered doctor. Although a PCC is appointed by the Council, it is separate from the Council, and regulates its own procedures.
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Prevocational medical training for interns incorporates aspects of the apprenticeship model of 'learning on the job’ as part of a team. Senior doctors supervise and assess the interns’ performance, providing them with ongoing feedback and gradually increasing their responsibilities.
Prevocational medical training for interns in PGY1 and PGY2 is overseen by prevocational educational supervisors and clinical supervisors.
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We serve Aotearoa New Zealand by protecting public health and safety. We do this by setting and promoting standards for the medical profession.
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Recertification helps maintain high standards of medical competence and care. Doctors required to participate in recertification must do so, and must respond, at our request, to any questions we have about their participation.
We work with recertification providers to ensure doctors’ compliance. At its most serious, non-compliance may, ultimately, lead to the suspension of an individual’s registration. -
Find out how to keep us up to date with changes to your information including your name, employment, and addresses.
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A recent change to the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 sets a new requirement on all health profession regulators, including the Medical Council. We are now required to publish a policy setting out on when we might make public in some way, information about an order or direction made by us about a doctor.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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To practise medicine in New Zealand, you must first gain registration from us. This ensures you are competent and fit to practise.
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Special purpose registration is a temporary form of registration, for specific purposes. It is not a pathway to permanent general or vocational registration. Entry on the Register is cancelled after a fixed time period.
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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.
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Graduates of Aotearoa New Zealand and Australian accredited medical schools and doctors who have sat and passed an approved medical registration examination, including the New Zealand Registration Examination (NZREX Clinical) complete prevocational medical training.
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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 -
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.
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Rehabilitation medicine is the medical care of patients in relation to the prevention and reduction of disability and handicap arising from impairments, and the management of patients with disabilities from a physical, psychosocial and vocational viewpoint.
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This area of our site contains detailed information about the medical workforce in Aotearoa New Zealand.
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This page contains important information on approved qualifications, the information to include with your application, and other things that may affect your application for registration in a vocational scope.
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Graduates of Aotearoa New Zealand and Australian accredited medical schools and doctors who have sat and passed an approved medical registration examination, including the New Zealand Registration Examination (NZREX Clinical) complete prevocational medical training.
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This pathway is for New Zealand and Australian medical graduates wanting to register within the Provisional General scope of practice to complete their internship.
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There are two special purpose scopes of practice which enable us to react to emergencies and unpredictable situations or disasters and pandemics. The specific requirements and length of registration depend on the event, and are determined by the Council when required.
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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.
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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.
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Vocational registration is a form of permanent, specialist registration which allows you to work independently in New Zealand.
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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.
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Pain medicine is the biopsychosocial assessment and management of persons with complex pain, especially when an underlying condition is not directly treatable. The scope of pain medicine supplements that of other medical disciplines, and utilises interdisciplinary skills to promote improved quality-of-life through improved physical, psychological and social function.
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In addition to being registered, you must also hold a current practising certificate to practise medicine in New Zealand. You cannot lawfully practise in New Zealand without this certificate.
This section outlines the importance of holding a current practising certificate, the consequences of practising without one, and how to apply for one. -
Between accreditation cycles, the Council monitors prevocational medical training and Aotearoa New Zealand vocational medical training and recertification providers through progress and annual reporting. For medical schools and Australasian vocational training and recertification providers (medical colleges) monitoring is led by the Australian Medical Council, in partnership with the Council.
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This page outlines your rights responsibilities in relation to your practising certificate, and the possible consequences if you practise without a certificate.
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This guide for supervisors of IMGs outlines how to access supervision reports through Council's myMCNZ portal, as well as how to complete and submit them.
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The Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal (The Tribunal) has asked us to publish a summary of its recent decisions. You can access the full decision on their website at the links provided.
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If you hold an approved postgraduate medical qualification from the UK, Ireland or Australia and intend to work as a specialist in Aotearoa New Zealand in an approved area of medicine, you can apply via the VOC4 fast-track pathway.
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Physician associates are trained health professionals who work under the supervision of a medical doctor to provide healthcare to patients.
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The Medical Council of New Zealand will protect and safeguard personal information and treat it with the utmost care, respect and discretion. This includes all personal information collected online.This privacy notice applies to personal information that we collect through this website: www.mcnz.org.nz
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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.
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In late 2009 we asked the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE) to undertake a full review of how we were performing. This is their report on how we did.
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If you wish to practise medicine in New Zealand you must first gain registration from us. To do this, you must show us that you are qualified, competent and fit for registration.
We register more than 1500 new doctors each year and there are over 16,000 registered doctors practising in New Zealand. More than 40 percent have trained overseas, coming from more than 100 countries.
Use the links below to find out about getting registered to practise here. We recommend you start with ‘how to register’ for an overview. -
Manatū Hauora | Ministry of Health is the agency responsible for the proposal and consultation on the regulation of physician associates under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003. The Medical Council made a submission during the Ministry’s consultation on the proposal in December 2023 (as did a number of other organisations) and is awaiting the Ministry’s release of the outcome. The Medical Council cannot advise on when this information will be released by the Ministry.
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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.
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The Medical Council of New Zealand has two new members. The Hon Matt Doocey, Associate Minister of Health, made the appointments, which are effective from 1 July 2024 for a three-year term. The Minister also reappointed two current members for further terms. These four appointments follow the election by the profession, earlier this year.
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Any doctor applying for registration in New Zealand must be fit for registration and fit to practise medicine. It's a legal requirement on us to ensure they are. We determine this as part of our assessment of your application for registration.
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The Medical Council of New Zealand, in partnership with Te Ohu Rata O Aotearoa (Te ORA), has released an independent research report outlining findings on the current state of cultural safety and health equity delivered by doctors in Aotearoa New Zealand.
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This statement outlines how we manage the personal information we collect.
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The special purpose teleradiology scope of practice enables doctors without the recognised New Zealand or Australasian qualification to provide teleradiology services for patients in New Zealand.
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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.
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If a doctor has an issue with their own health, wherever possible we try to help them to remain in practice while it is being resolved. That said, our primary objective is to protect the health and safety of the public - which may mean that the doctor will be unable to practise safely, or will be limited in what they can do, until they are well enough to fully resume practice.
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This quick guide for stakeholders covers how to make an online claim through myMCNZ.
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Council's strategic plan sets out our key strategic goals, the outcomes that flow down from our goals, and how we can achieve these outcomes.
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This page contains information on how to use myMCNZ, our web based portal for doctors.
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This guide will help you complete your application to renew your practising certificate. All applications to renew are now made online using myMCNZ - our online portal.
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You are eligible for a 50 percent refund of your practising certificate fee if your medical income (including any tax) in New Zealand or overseas is NZ$20,000 or less.
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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.
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if you are in a collegial relationship you should use this form to keep a record of the meetings you have with your colleague.
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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.
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New Zealand and Australian graduates: This checklist will help you to confirm your eligibility for registration, tell you what documents you need to provide, and will tell you what documents you need to have verified at source by EPIC.
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Our Health Committee acts for Council when health problems affect a doctor’s ability to practise safely. Referrals come from doctors themselves, or worried colleagues. We ensure patients are protected while the doctor gets appropriate help.
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All international medical graduates coming to New Zealand to practise medicine for the first time must attend a registration meeting and be able to produce the information we have asked for.
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You must agree to these rules before you can take the examination. If you break these rules you will fail the examination and there may be consequences for any future application for registration.
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If you are in a collegial relationship, you should use this form to keep a record of the CME activities you complete.
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If you are in a collegial relationship, you should use this form to keep a record of any peer review you do.
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If you are in a collegial relationship, you should use this form to record any optional activities you complete - that is, activities that are not specifically required.
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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.
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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.
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This guide will help you when you complete the workforce survey as part of your application to renew your practising certificate.
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When applying for registration at the end of your medical training you will have to answer questions relating to your fitness to practise. This guide will help you to figure out what you may need to declare to Council.
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If you are planning on leaving New Zealand to practise in another country, its medical regulator may ask you for a certificate of professional status (COPS) from us. Your registration is not affected by your decision to practise overseas but you must ensure that we hold current contact details for you.
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If you are in a collegial relationship, you should use this form to record the details of any audits of your medical practice.
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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.
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If you trained and qualified as a specialist outside of New Zealand and Australia and wish to work in New Zealand as a specialist you can apply based on overseas training and qualifications and we will assess your case on its merits.
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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.
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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.
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You cannot work outside the requirements of your scope of practice and any requirements set by Council specific to you. These are shown on your practising certificate. If you are registered within a provisional general, provisional vocational or a special purpose scope of practice, you need our approval of any change to your employment, supervision, position or location.
Once we've received and approved your variation application we will issue you a new practising certificate. -
We've added videos to help guide patients and other health consumers explaining how to make a notification, and the process that we follow when a notification is made
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You can apply for registration through this pathway if you have recent experience in a comparable health system.
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If you are thinking about practising medicine in New Zealand, there are many things to consider. This page provides an introduction to medical registration, the healthcare system, getting a job and settling in the country.
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This dashboard page breaks down new doctors by entry pathway (how they qualified for registration in New Zealand) by ethnicity, gender, age group, and the country of their primary medical qualification.
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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.
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You can download copies of your current and expired practising certificates by logging into your myMCNZ account.
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Our Strategic plan for 2021 – 2025 outlines our vision and purpose and how we will enhance the mana of Te Tiriti o Waitangi through achieving our strategic priorities.
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If you wish to apply for the NZREX Clinical, you must meet the requirements outlined in this Policy. You will also need to submit a recent photo in order to apply for the NZREX Clinical, this policy also outlines the requirements for the photo we need.
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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.
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The ePort privacy statement explains how the Council collects, stores, uses and shares information through ePort and outlines the standards and requirements in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020 and the relevant privacy principles.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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If you are registered and practising in a provisional vocational scope you must practise in a Council-approved position at specialist/consultant level, under Council-approved supervision.
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You can apply for this pathway if you have passed the Australian Medical Council examinations and are registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).
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Special purpose postgraduate training registration is available for doctors looking to come to New Zealand on a temporary basis, to gain experience and skills to take back to their home or sponsor country.
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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.
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You can apply for registration through this pathway if you have an overseas specialist qualification on our approved list, and have a job offer to work in New Zealand for 12 months or less.
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This policy outlines the requirements you must meet before you can be registered in the General scope of practice.This policy should be read alongside Council's Policy on registration in New Zealand.
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As a patient, your health and safety are your doctor's primary concern, and the relationship you have with your doctor should be based on mutual trust, clear communication, honesty and respect. You should feel comfortable and be well-informed at all times, safe in the knowledge that your doctor is fit to practise medicine. If you feel that has been compromised, we will take any notifications seriously.
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Tell us who you are so we can better direct your enquiry
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If you want to work as a specialist in New Zealand, hold the approved New Zealand/Australasian postgraduate qualification, but do not already hold general registration, you can apply down the VOC2 pathway.
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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.
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Special purpose registration is a temporary form of registration, for specific purposes. You should apply for this scope when you want to work in New Zealand for a specific purpose such as research, further training or to assist with a disaster.
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In April 2025, the Minister of Health announced that PAs would be regulated in Aotearoa New Zealand, and that the Council would be the regulator of PAs. This responsibility is now set in legislation. Council is inviting feedback on proposals for how PAs should be regulated in Aotearoa New Zealand.
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If you are registered and practising in the provisional general scope via the UK/Irish graduates, comparable health system or the Australian general registrant pathway, you must practice in a Council-approved position, under Council-approved supervision.
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Complete this form to confirm you are enrolled and actively participating in an approved recertification programme.
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You can apply for registration via this pathway if, within the last five years, you have passed either the New Zealand Registration Examination (NZREX Clinical); or Part 1 and Part 2 of the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) test.
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Most international medical graduates (IMGs) registered within a provisional general, provisional vocational, or special purpose scope of practice will need to submit a supervision plan with their application. The Council will consider the proposed supervision plan as part of the application process.
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Application form for provisional vocational registration if you hold an approved postgraduate medical qualification.
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To apply for registration within a special purpose (locum tenens) scope of practice, you must first hold an approved postgraduate qualification in the branch of medicine in which you want to work, and then meet remaining requirements outlined in the registration policy.
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The Medical Council of New Zealand (the Medical Council) welcomes the Government’s review of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (HPCAA and the opportunity to respond to the consultation document Putting Patients First—modernising health workforce regulation.