New Waikato medical school students will be placed in five regions with rural communities

Students of the new Waikato medical school will be placed in five regions around the country from 2029.

According to Health Minister Simeon Brown: "We know that where doctors train often influences where they practise. By embedding students in regional and rural communities, we're creating a pathway for more doctors to stay and work in the areas that need them most."

The specific locations are:

• Waikato: Waikato Hospital; communities including North Waikato, Hauraki/Thames-Coromandel, South Waikato, and Waipā/King Country
• Bay of Plenty: Tauranga Hospital; communities including Western Bay of Plenty and Rotorua
• Taranaki/Whanganui: Taranaki Base and Whanganui Hospitals; communities including New Plymouth and Whanganui
• Hawke's Bay: Hawke's Bay Fallen Soldiers' Memorial Hospital; communities including Hastings and Wairoa
• Nelson/Marlborough: Nelson and Wairau Hospitals; communities including Richmond and Blenheim

As a graduate-entry programme, students of the New Zealand Graduate School of Medicine (NZGSM) would complete their first year at the University of Waikato Hamilton campus before embarking on the three-year clinical placement programme in one of the five regions announced on Thursday.

Professor Jo Lane, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Health at the University of Waikato, said identifying the clinical placement regions was an important step in establishing the programme.

"We've engaged extensively with a wide range of stakeholders in each community who might partner with us in training the doctors they need," Lane said.

"The response has been overwhelmingly positive, and we look forward to this next phase of establishing the NZGSM, working in partnership to strengthen regional workforce pathways and a more sustainable health system over time."

New community clinical learning centres (CCLCs) would also be established in each location where students were based, serving as University of Waikato teaching sites.

The university said these would provide a key link with communities, pastoral support for students, and interprofessional education opportunities for the University's medical, nursing, midwifery and pharmacy students.

Associate health minister Matt Doocey explained: "By embedding students in rural communities, we can help grow the frontline health workforce in the areas that need it most."

The school was expected to welcome its first cohort of 120 students in 2028, with its first clinical placements starting in 2029.

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