Doubts raised over Waikato University medical school plans

Saturday, 3 August 2024

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Minister of Health Dr Shane Reti signed a memorandum of understanding with Waikato University in February to advance the business case for a new medical school in Hamilton.

A report, commissioned by Auckland and Otago universities, has poured a healthy dose of cold water on plans to build a new medical school at Waikato University.

The Medical Education in New Zealand: current state and consideration of future options report, authored by PwC New Zealand, has found the existing medical schools at Otago and Auckland could increase the number of doctors trained in New Zealand by 300, if additional funding was available and caps on student numbers were raised.

Waikato University vice chancellor Neil Quigley did not respond to questions from the Waikato Times, however an unnamed university spokesperson said the university was not approached to provide details about its proposal for this report.

Waikato University vice chancellor Professor Neil Quigley previously said a new medical school in Hamilton would focus on rural GP training.

“We continue to work closely with the Ministry of Health on the development of a business case, and they are best placed to comment at this time,” they said.

If a new medical school was to be built in Hamilton, it would not be ready for its first intake of 120 students until January 2027 at the earliest, and initial estimates for the building alone were $380 million.

The National Party campaigned on bringing a new medical school to Hamilton and signed a memorandum of understanding with the university to advance the project in February.

University of Auckland medical and health sciences faculty dean, Professor Warwick Bagg, said Auckland and Otago universities could increase doctor training numbers by 300, if adequate funding was provided.

The ACT Party had previously questioned the need for a new medical school saying money would be better spent on the existing schools.

University of Auckland medical and health sciences faculty dean, Professor Warwick Bagg, said both Auckland and Otago universities were ready to step up and could, by 2027, increase the number of students being trained from 589 to 889 saving the Government hundreds of millions to build, staff and accredit a new medical school in Hamilton.

“We are able to leverage existing resources, capability and facilities while deploying our experience and expertise to rapidly increase the intake of trainee doctors,” Professor Bagg said.

The report stated a third medical school “will likely result in increased competition for clinical partnerships in New Zealand, particularly in rural hospitals and centres”, as well as “create challenges in areas such as staff recruitment and retention”.

Acting University of Otago Medical School dean Professor Tim Wilkinson said the country’s biggest problem was not about facilities.

“It is about funding more students to study medicine and ensuring sufficient clinical placements around the country for them to learn on the job.”

He said any decision to increase student capacity and training had to be “cost-effective and timely to meet this demand”.

“Both universities believe the best approach would be using the existing capability within the country’s two medical schools rather than build a third medical school, which may not only cost hundreds of millions of dollars but also take more than two years to begin training doctors.”

Minister of Health Dr Shane Reti said the coalition Government had committed to completing a cost benefit analysis for the proposed medical school at Waikato University, “which the Ministry of Health is progressing with support from key stakeholders”.

“I expect the Ministry to engage with the Universities of Auckland and Otago throughout the process,” he said.