- By Simeon Brown, Health Minister and Member of Parliament for Pakuranga
The Government is delivering on its commitment to fix New Zealand’s broken healthcare system by ensuring Kiwis get better access to healthcare.
Making it easier for New Zealanders to see a doctor or other health professional is a key priority, and I made a series of announcements recently to ensure easier access to timely, quality healthcare.
We’re already investing record funding into healthcare, but many New Zealanders are still finding it too hard to get an appointment with their GP, which is putting pressure on our emergency departments.
That’s why we’re funding a new two-year primary care training programme for up to 100 extra overseas-trained doctors once they’re registered to work in New Zealand.
It makes no sense that overseas-trained doctors living here are willing to work in primary care but can’t because there aren’t enough training opportunities.
We’ll also fund more Kiwis to train as doctors by boosting the number of placements at medical schools by a further 25 each year.
During the term of this Government, medical school placements have already increased by 75 places each year.
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.
Providing opportunities for graduate doctors to receive clinical supervision and gain registration in a primary care environment is also part of our plan to increase GP numbers.
This initiative will introduce a funded primary care pathway to registration for New Zealand-trained graduate doctors, with the majority of time spent with primary care providers instead of hospitals.
Boosting our nursing workforce will also deliver immediate benefits to people seeking care.
GP practices and other providers outside hospitals will be paid an incentive to attract, recruit, and support up to 400 graduate registered nurses a year from this year.
This helps attract essential healthcare staff where they’re desperately needed, particularly in rural areas.
The Government will also fund 120 nurse practitioner training places in primary care each year from 2026.
Additional funding will accelerate advanced tertiary education for up to 120 primary care registered nurses annually, bringing healthcare closer to home.
Registered nurses who obtain advanced qualifications can become registered nurse prescribers and may choose to continue their training to become nurse practitioners.
This allows more Kiwis to get ongoing care, including prescriptions, without needing a doctor’s appointment.
Our focus remains on strengthening services, reducing pressure on GPs, and ensuring Kiwis can access the care they need, when they need it.
- This column first appeared in our sister newspaper, Eastern Times www.times.co.nz
