What candidates actually ask, with honest answers.

No, if you hold a recognised qualification. The Medical Council of New Zealand assesses your training and experience for vocational scope of practice. Recognised pathways exist for FRACS, UK CCT, European Facharzt with FEBOPRAS or FEBHS, and equivalent.

The assessment is a paper-based review by MCNZ; you do not sit exams. We support your application but cannot accelerate MCNZ’s timeline.

For fellows and locum SMOs, the relevant pathway is Provisional General registration via the Comparable Health System (CHS) pathway. Once your application is complete and EPIC primary-source verification of your qualifications is underway, MCNZ processing is typically eight to twelve weeks. The slower step is usually EPIC verification at the front end — start it as early as you can, ideally three to four months before your intended start date.

For surgeons committing to a long-term consultant career in New Zealand, the Provisional Vocational pathway recognises specialist training but is a different process — RACS assesses qualifications against the New Zealand training standard, and processing under the expedited pathway (for approved postgraduate qualifications) takes around two months; the standard pathway up to six. Provisional Vocational requires twelve months of supervised consultant practice before full vocational registration is granted, which is the gateway to ACC private practice.

We will help you identify the right pathway for your circumstances, but the choice between them — and the MCNZ timeline itself — is yours to manage.

New Zealand offers multiple skilled-migrant pathways. Most international medical consultants enter on an Accredited Employer Work Visa initially, with a clear pathway to residency. Children of residents access free public education and free public healthcare.

If your partner is also a doctor, MCNZ registration follows the same process. We can put you in touch with consultants who have made the move and can speak to the realities of the family transition.

The unit currently runs with six consultants against an establishment of eight; on-call is shared accordingly. Fellow on-call is typically 1:3 or 1:4. On-call from home in almost all cases — operative work overnight is for genuine emergencies. The volume is real but the system supports you.

Two different collective agreements apply depending on the role.

Locum SMO and permanent SMO positions are governed by the ASMS (Association of Salaried Medical Specialists) Senior Medical Officer collective agreement. The base scale plus availability allowance, on-call, CME entitlements, and NCT (Non-Clinical Time) protected hours puts most consultants in a comparable position to Australian or UK NHS consultant salaries, with significantly lower cost of living than London, Sydney, or Auckland.

Fellow positions sit within the senior registrar establishment and are governed by the RDA (Resident Doctors' Association) collective agreement. Pay is registrar-grade — well above what an equivalent senior trainee earns in Europe or the UK once allowances and on-call are included, but materially below the ASMS SMO scale. Fellows do not get NCT or the extended CME entitlements; those are SMO contract features.

We will discuss specific numbers at interview stage.

We are a public tertiary plastic surgery unit. We do not currently provide aesthetic breast surgery, breast reduction (cosmetic indication), body contouring, or aesthetic facial surgery in the public service — reconstruction only. If your career interest is primarily aesthetic, this is not the right unit for you.

Submit your CV and a short cover letter through the form on this site. We respond to every enquiry. Serious candidates are invited to a video interview with the HOD and relevant SMOs, followed by a site visit where logistically feasible.

Yes. We are happy to begin conversations early. Several of our current consultants started discussions twelve to eighteen months before they actually moved.