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194 results matching “how many people in NZ are registered”
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To practise as a doctor or physician associate 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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We have approximately 95 staff, including our Chief Executive and senior managers whose activities are overseen by a Council of 12 people who are a mix of doctors and laypeople. Our Chair is Dr Kenneth (Ken) Clark. Joan Simeon is our Manukura (Chief Executive) Officer.
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This dashboard page contains information around the distribution of doctors within New Zealand.
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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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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. -
This dashboard page contains information around Māori and Pacific Peoples doctors in the medical workforce including breakdowns by age, gender, and work role.
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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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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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This dashboard page contains information around registered doctors, those who are on the register and hold a current practising certificate. You can also view the same data for past quarters.
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This dashboard page contains information around changes over time in the number and demographics of registered doctors - doctors on the register with a current practising certificate.
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This dashboard page contains further information around the distribution of doctors within New Zealand.
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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 dashboard page contains information around international medical graduates, doctors who obtained their primary medical qualification outside of New Zealand.
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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 contains information around how long doctors remain in New Zealand after their initial registration.
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Tell us who you are so we can better direct your enquiry
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This dashboard page contains information around doctors with a vocational scope of practice including breakdowns by age, gender, and ethnicity.
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The Chair of Te Kaunihera Rata o Aotearoa | The Medical Council of New Zealand, Dr Curtis Walker, reinforced today the technical and complex process required when thoroughly reviewing a doctor’s overseas qualifications, training and experience.
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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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Media Release | Medical Council to regulate the Physician Associate profession
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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.
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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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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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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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We serve Aotearoa New Zealand by protecting the health and safety of the public. We do this by setting and promoting standards for doctors and physician associates.
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If you have concerns about the care you received, or about a doctor or physician associate's behaviour or professionalism, you can notify either the Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC) or the Medical Council of New Zealand (Council). We work closely together, but our roles are different.
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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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Find out how to keep us up to date with changes to your information including your name, employment, and addresses.
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This dashboard page contains information around new registrations - registrations granted where the doctor was not already on the medical register.
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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.
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We are pleased to announce that we are increasing capacity to sit the NZREX Clinical across 2025, and plan to be able to examine up to 180 candidates over the course of 2025.
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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 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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Musculoskeletal medicine involves the diagnosis and treatment (or referral) of patients with neuro-musculoskeletal dysfunction, disorders and diseases, most of whom present with acute or chronic pain problems.
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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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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 use this form to ask us a question or raise concerns about a health practitioner (doctor or physician associate).
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Doctors and physician associates get sick too, and when they do it's important that their illness doesn't interfere with their ability to practise safely. A doctor or physician associate must always be able to practise without putting patients or the public at risk.
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To practise in New Zealand, you must first gain registration from us. This ensures you are competent and fit to practise.
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List of our fees effective from 1 July 2026
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This dashboard page contains information around doctors undertaking vocational training in New Zealand.
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The Medical Council of New Zealand |Te Kaunihera Rata o Aotearoa today released the results of its 2025 Workforce Survey, showing continued growth, more diversity, and important shifts in the medical workforce.
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We want to make sure the information that we provide on our website about making a notification is clear and easy to use. If you have recently looked at our website to find out how to raise a concern about a doctor, we welcome your feedback.
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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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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.
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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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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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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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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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Physician associates are trained health professionals who work under the supervision of adoctor to provide healthcare to patients.
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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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This page outlines the registration process for physician associates including information on what you need to provide, what you can expect and how long it will take.
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New Zealand’s medical workforce has grown to 21,097 practising doctors, with the latest Medical Council workforce report also showing changes in who makes up the profession, where doctors are working and how long they stay in New Zealand.
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If you have concerns about a registered doctor or a physician associate, you can refer the matter to the Council.
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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 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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If a doctor or physician associate 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 or physician associate 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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Regardless of your scope of practice, the basic process for registration as a doctor or physician associate in New Zealand is as outlined here.
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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. -
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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Our policies set out the rules and criteria we use to make decisions on applications for registration. These policies will also be referenced on the pages that provide detail on how to apply for registration.
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We may sometimes use terms you won't be familiar with. Find out here what they mean.
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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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From today, 1 October 2026 physician associates are a regulated health profession in Aotearoa New Zealand.
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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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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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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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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're not working away from New Zealand but are just taking a break from medical practice, this page outlines what you need to do.
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Doctors who hold overseas qualifications and who want to apply for registration in Aotearoa New Zealand must have key documents verified from their primary source. Since November 2017, Council has required primary source verification using the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates’ Electronic Portfolio of International Credentials (ECFMG’s EPIC) service, which is now accessed via the MyIntealth portal.
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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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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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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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Over coming weeks, we will be scheduling additional NZREX clinical examinations, to facilitate IMGs, who do not meet requirements for other pathways, an opportunity to gain eligibility for registration. To inform decisions on the number and timing of examinations, we are collecting information to understand the potential number of eligible doctors waiting to sit the NZREX clinical exam.
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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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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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The Minister of Health has announced two new initiatives targeted at overseas doctors who have passed their New Zealand Registration Examination (NZREX) examination in the last five years, allowing them to apply for roles in New Zealand that will lead to full registration as a doctor.
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We're pleased to announce the launch of our new data dashboard, now available on our website. This dashboard provides a comprehensive and dynamic overview of registered and practising doctors in Aotearoa New Zealand.
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Medical Council Chair Dr Rachelle Love responds to the final report from the Abuse in State Care Royal Commission Inquiry.
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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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Certificates of professional status (COPS) are documents used by professional regulators to share information about whether a health practitioner is in good standing. Doctors or physician associates applying for registration, restoration or returning from practising outside New Zealand need to provide us with certificates of professional status.
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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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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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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.
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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.
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Council requires all doctors in PGY2, to satisfy the requirements of a programme ordered by Council under section 40 of the HPCAA.
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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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You can apply for registration through this pathway if you hold a qualification approved by the General Medical Council (GMC) for registration as a physician associate in the United Kingdom.
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This pathway is for physician associates who have experience practising clinically in New Zealand.
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Faster, easier registration for overseas-trained doctors to enter Aotearoa New Zealand’s medical workforce
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You can apply for registration through this pathway if you hold a qualification accredited for licensure in the United States of America for registration as a physician associate.
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You can apply for registration through this pathway if you hold a qualification accredited for licensure in Canada for registration as a physician associate.
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Your recertification programme requirements will generally depend on what scope(s) of practice you are registered and practising in. However, there are exceptions and special cases. This section outlines the recertification requirements for each scope of practice, as well as any exceptions that may apply.