This policy covers when doctors who were previously registered in New Zealand can apply to be restored to the register rather than complete a full registration application.

A history of the Medical Council of New Zealand, compiled by Professor Richard Sainsbury.

In this issue of Medical Council News we acknowledge the contribution and mana of Mr Andrew Connolly, our Chair and leader over the last five years. We also highlight our two new statements on professional and sexual boundaries in the doctor-patient relationship and the Ministry shares guidance around new laws relating to medicinal cannabis.

The December 2008 edition of Medical Council News, our newsletter for doctors.

In the May 2016 issue of Medical Council News we looked at doctors providing care to themselves and those close to them, informed consent, and guidance from the Pharmacy Council on effective prescription writing for safe collaborative patient management.

In this issue of Medical Council News we look at workplace bullying. It's an issue that is everyone's responsibility and something we should all have zero tolerance for. We also look at new and revised statements on self-care, advertising and telehealth, and the use of the internet.

In this issue we look at the importance of keeping up to date with Council's statements and publications, the outcomes of the research into Council's performance, and cultural competence.

In the November 2015 edition of Medical Council News we looked at stimulating debate amongst health organisations about the urgent need to address Māori health inequity, concerns around processing laboratory results, retrospective changes to patient records and why British doctors move to New Zealand.

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.

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.

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.

Memorandum of understanding between Medical Council of New Zealand and New Zealand Private Surgical Hospitals Association

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.

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.

Each year CPMEC recognises junior doctors across Australia and New Zealand who have made valuable contributions to prevocational medical education and training. Prevocational Education Supervisors, Clinical Directors of Training and CMOs are eligible to nominate a junior doctor for this award.

Terms of reference for our Committee on matters relating to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State Care

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.

This document outlines the various options available to the Notifications Triage Team (NTT) and Council when considering a notification about a doctor.

This Memorandum of Understanding is made on the 24th day of August 2017
between Te Kaunihera Rata o Aotearoa | Medical Council of New Zealand
and The New Zealand Police.

This gazette notice lists the fees payable from 1 July 2025.

Our "Good medical practice" publication provides guidance to doctors on the standards of practice we expect.

Doctors are sometimes asked by a third party (such as an insurance company or ACC) to conduct medical assessments of patients. This statement explains the role of the assessing doctor and the standard of care expected of them within an assessing relationship.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 sets out Council’s Policy in regards to prevocational medical training. It outlines the requirements for each component of prevocational medical training from PGY1 through to the end of PGY2.

Council report following an independent review of the implementation of the prevocational medical training programme for interns. The independent review was commissioned by Council and carried out by an Implementation Review Group chaired by Dr Kenneth Clark, Chair of the National District Health Board Chief Medical Officer Group.

Council has not issued standards specific to practice within the purpose of the End of Life Choice Act 2019 (EOLCA). Council considers that the provision of health services under the EOLCA falls within the wider practice of medicine, to which Council’s statements are directed. This document sets out existing Council statements alongside the relevant sections of the EOLCA.

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 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.

The Standards for accreditation of specialist medical training programmes are jointly agreed and applied by the Australian Medical Council (AMC) and the Medical Council of New Zealand (MCNZ). Australasian colleges are required to apply the New Zealand specific criteria in addition to the AMC standards.

This statement outlines the rights and responsibilities of health care workers and infected health care workers in relation to transmissible major viral infections.

Glossary of terms used in relation to prevocational medical training. Examples include clinical attachment, intern, multisource feedback (MSF), and prevocational educational supervisor

This guide outlines the requirements for PGY1 and PGY2

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.

Approved list of postgraduate medical qualifications recognised for registration via the VOC4 pathway

Evaluation of changes to prevocational medical training by Malatest International - end of year report for 2018

A one-page visual guide outlining the registration pathways available to International Medical Graduates, including both permanent and temporary options.

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

This guide is for accredited training providers who are preparing for a Council accreditation assessment. This guide provides training providers with detailed information as to what the Council expects you to provide in your self-assessment.

These guidelines set out the roles and responsibilities for international medical graduates (IMGs) coming to work in New Zealand, and their employers and supervisors.

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

This document sets out Council’s policy in regards to accrediting training providers of prevocational medical training (training providers) and their clinical attachments. It outlines the components of the accreditation assessment.

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.

The New Zealand Curriculum Framework for Prevocational Medical Training (NZCF) outlines the learning outcomes to be substantively completed in PGY1 and by the end of PGY2

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.

In addition to completing the RACP Additional Information Form, complete these supplementary specialty-specific questions for medical oncology.

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.

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

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

Training providers that offer vocational medical training and recertification programmes must gain accreditation with the Council by meeting the Accreditation standards for Aotearoa New Zealand training providers of vocational medical training and recertification programmes (2022).

Application for restoration to the medical register

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

These are the current standards and have been updated to reflect the changes to ACLS requirements for interns. These standards identify the basic elements that must exist in all accredited prevocational intern training programmes. Providers of prevocational training programmes must demonstrate they meet these accreditation standards.

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.

These standards have been superseded by the 2022 standards above.

This document highlights the revisions we're making around recertification, cultural safety, and health equity to the accreditation standards for NZ training providers of vocational medical training and recertification programmes

In 2019, Council released strengthened Recertification requirements for vocationally-registered doctors practising in New Zealand. Council is now reviewing its accreditation standards for providers of vocational recertification programmes to ensure these align with the new recertification requirements.

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.

These standards will come into effect on 1 July 2022. The standards outline the standards vocational training providers need to meet in order to be accredited to provide vocational medical training and recertification programmes. We have made revisions to update recertification, cultural safety, health equity and specialist assessment of IMG content.

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.

Section 16 (b) of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 requires the Medical Council of New Zealand (Council) to be satisfied that any doctor seeking registration in New Zealand is able to communicate in and comprehend English sufficiently to protect the health and safety of the public.

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.

Form to confirm that the doctor is enrolled and actively participating in Inpractice, the recertification programme for doctors registered in the General scope of practice.

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.

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.

Medical Council of New Zealand: Establishing a Prevocational Training Baseline. A report commissioned by Council and prepared by Malatest International