More doctor training places and new plan to tackle GP shortages - minister

Tuesday, 4 March 2025

The changes are part of a package to tackle GP shortages and “ensure New Zealanders can see their doctor, faster,” Simeon Brown says.

Health Minister Simeon Brown has announced a boost of 25 extra doctor training places at the country’s two medical schools, as well as funding to send up to 50 graduate doctors a year on a pathway to primary care.

Both new initiatives will start from 2026 - part of a package to tackle GP shortages and “ensure New Zealanders can see their doctor, faster”, Brown said on Tuesday.

It follows an announcement on Monday of 100 new clinical placements for overseas-trained doctors to work in primary care, financial incentives for primary care to recruit up to 400 graduate registered nurses and the launch of a new 24/7 telehealth service to be staffed by GPs and nurses, some of who may be overseas.

New Zealand is 485 GPs short, according to official figures sent to the previous health minister, Dr Shane Reti, and figures from the College of GP reveal more than a third of GPs intend to retire by 2027.

Health Minister Simeon Brown has made the announcement on the back of a raft of extra funding and changes to address GP waiting times.

“I am focused on ensuring Kiwis have better access to primary care services, and strengthening our health workforce is a key part of that,” Brown said.

The announcement appears to make good on a National party election promise. The party campaigned on boosting doctor training places by 50 each year, but only 25 were funded at Budget 2024.

“This additional funding will bring the total of extra places to 100, seeing the cap on first-year medical school enrolments increased to 639 annually from 2026,“ Brown said.

“We need to make investments now to grow this important workforce, so that New Zealanders have access to timely, quality healthcare – now, and in the future.

The additional places will be allocated across the University of Auckland and the University of Otago, from next year.

“We can’t just rely on sourcing our doctors from overseas – we must ensure a sustainable pipeline of New Zealand-trained doctors.”

Brown said it was also important to be “ramping up” the number of trainee GPs in a new pathway where they will be given early opportunities to pursue primary care, Brown said.

“This initiative will allocate $23.3 million over four years to introduce a funded primary care pathway to registration for New Zealand-trained graduate doctors. The majority of time will be spent in primary care providers, instead of hospitals.”

The funding will support 50 New Zealand-trained graduate doctors into primary care settings each year from 2026.

“Talented graduate doctors who have an interest in primary care will be given an early opportunity to pursue that interest, working in communities right across the country,” Brown said.

“Providing opportunities for graduate doctors to receive clinical supervision and gain registration in a primary care environment is part of our plan to increase GP numbers.”