NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business / Economy / Employment

NZ a great place to study medicine

NZ Herald
8 May, 2012 05:30 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Elizabeth Ryan, Ko Awatea acting workforce development manager. Photo / Ted Baghurst

Elizabeth Ryan, Ko Awatea acting workforce development manager. Photo / Ted Baghurst

Regular stories in the news of cost-cutting and redundancies at regional and district health boards give an impression the health sector is in the doldrums and always in a state of flux.

Yet in February Health Minister Tony Ryall said more money was being spent in the health sector than ever before but, of course, with an ageing population there is more to be done.

"Overall we are in pretty good shape," says Professor Des Gorman, chairman of Health Workforce NZ, which was set up in 2009 to provide national leadership in developing the country's health and disability workforce.

"Some of it is good management, some of it good luck," says the Professor of Medicine at Auckland University.

There have been specific problems in particular regions, community after- hours care has become more disintegrated and there are too few emergency department doctors, he says. But, at the moment, the supply of midwives, nurses and doctors is in hand.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

There is no question, however, that health care leaders will have to try harder to make the health system more attractive. They are going to have to work to stop nurses from leaving. "Typically, when they get to about 50, they leave," Gorman says. Industry leaders must figure out why they would want to continue to give them responsibilities that shift with the role.

With babyboomers ageing and mature nurses leaving the workforce, the health sector will face a double whammy, says Gorman. And because of high salaries in Australia, the health sector will have to keep thinking about how to make New Zealand a more attractive place to work.

"As far as we can tell, the number of New Zealand doctors going overseas is at an all-time low. It's a mixture of good luck and an over-supply of doctors in Australia."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The flow of New Zealand doctors to the UK is also slowing. "It's more difficult for New Zealanders to get a job there. They have got to employ a European first."

The academic is looking at fundamental questions. How many doctors does society need? What should they be doing? General Practice is the most difficult to recruit in, he says. Its status is low. "We have to make it a sexy career."

New Zealand is one of the best places in the world to study medicine, he says. There's a career plan for every medical graduate, something Health Workforce NZ has pushed. Mentors have also been formally introduced. "By the time they have done a specialty, it costs $1 million to $1.5 million to train them. It's a huge investment by society."

In Auckland, the new education and research centre, Ko Awatea, has been launched in collaboration with Counties Manukau District Health Board, Manukau Institute of Technology, Auckland University of Technology and Auckland University to address the under-representation of Maori and Pacific staff in clinical roles.

Discover more

Lifestyle

A PR exec shows her true colours

02 May 05:30 PM
New Zealand|politics

Diabetes changes dominate Pharmac hearing

02 May 05:35 AM
New Zealand|education

Four-year allowance cap restricts study for many

03 May 05:30 PM
New Zealand|education

Allowance cuts to affect up to 5000 students

08 May 04:14 AM

Their research has found that Maori represent 6 per cent of Counties Manukau's workforce compared to the board's Maori population of 17 per cent. The area's Pacific workforce is around 8 per cent and the local Pacific population is 21 per cent.

Ko Awatea's workforce programmes are trying to "broaden perceptions" among Maori and Pacific children about what jobs in health are like, says Elizabeth Ryan, Workforce Development Manager, of Ko Awatea, CMDHB. Rather than guiding them to a particular health job, the message in the first instance is to achieve well and study the sciences, she says.

"The Health Could B 4 U programme is designed to raise awareness of the importance of science to studying health careers, as well as illustrating the diversity of health careers available, beyond the traditional nursing and medical roles young people most commonly relate to."

The Grow Our Own Workforce programme aims to develop a pipeline from education to health sector jobs.

The Counties Manukau board, with funding from the Tindall Foundation, has supported two pilot Health Sciences Academies, in Tangaroa College and James Cook High School. Otahuhu College is also funded by the Pasifika Medical Association.

The Health Science Academy model aims to develop health-focused curricula for direct entry into tertiary training, and is augmented by HCB4U activity where appropriate. Initial results are positive, says Ryan. The first cohort of Year 11 students last year achieved unprecedented NCEA levels of merit and excellence.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The flow of international health specialists into New Zealand continues as migrants seek better lifestyles.

Accent Health Recruitment's owner, Prudence Thomson, brings GPs in from overseas, especially from Britain and North America. She is just back from a recruitment conference in the UK where she met 400 British medical professionals. "Mental health, emergency and theatre staff I looked for and got," she says.

Thomson met radiographers, therapeutic and diagnostic mammographers, and anaesthetic technicians, all of whom are in demand here.

Sean Brunner, the director of Robert Walters' Wellington office, puts managers into the health sector. Hospitals want technical experts. In their back offices there is plenty of room for improvement, he says.

"Because it's a transforming environment, the health care sector is asking for skills around change management, people leadership, getting people on board with change, driving efficiencies in business and improving procurement procedures."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Employment

Premium
Property

Liquidator helps secure visas for 60 workers from failed NZ firm

Premium
AnalysisKate MacNamara

Reserve Bank's employee benefits: Gold standard or pretty standard?

Premium
Tax

Tax break? Govt urged to make it cheaper for employers to provide health insurance


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Employment

Premium
Premium
Liquidator helps secure visas for 60 workers from failed NZ firm
Property

Liquidator helps secure visas for 60 workers from failed NZ firm

'The welfare of these ProLink employees was paramount to me' – liquidator Pritesh Patel.

16 Jul 06:00 AM
Premium
Premium
Reserve Bank's employee benefits: Gold standard or pretty standard?
Kate MacNamara
AnalysisKate MacNamara

Reserve Bank's employee benefits: Gold standard or pretty standard?

16 Jul 03:00 AM
Premium
Premium
Tax break? Govt urged to make it cheaper for employers to provide health insurance
Tax

Tax break? Govt urged to make it cheaper for employers to provide health insurance

15 Jul 01:02 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP