National has plans to establish a third medical school for New Zealand based at the University of Waikato. Photo / University of Waikato
National has plans to establish a third medical school for New Zealand based at the University of Waikato. Photo / University of Waikato
Waikato leaders are welcoming National’s plans to develop a third medical school for New Zealand at the University of Waikato in Hamilton if the party wins the election in October.
Leader Christopher Luxon announced National’s health policy in Hamilton on Wednesday , saying a National Government under his leadership will open a medical school in Waikato to boost the number of doctors.
“National will also increase the number of medical school placements at Auckland and Otago by a total of 50 from 2025. This will be in addition to the 50 extra places already funded in Budget 2023. Together, this will see an additional 220 doctors graduating a year by 2030, compared to just 50 more under Labour’s plan.”
Waikato Chamber of Commerce chief executive Don Good applauded National’s policy announcement saying he was thrilled to see the party’s commitment to addressing our “dire shortage” of doctors, GPs, and those practising in rural outposts.
“We simply aren’t training enough doctors to meet the needs of our population and to accommodate the anticipated pattern of retirement of our existing health workforce,” Good said.
“Establishing a third medical school will, without doubt, contribute enormously to addressing our country’s health crisis. It’s not a silver bullet, but it’s certainly a game changer for our health system and our medical practitioners who are at breaking point.”
Waikato Chamber of Commerce executive director Don Good. Photo / Supplied
Good said Royal NZ College of General Practitioners 2022 workforce survey shows more than two-thirds of GPs are intending to retire within the next decade.
New Zealand currently graduates 550 new doctors each year, but 750 are needed to meet health workforce demand. By the time the Waikato Medical School could graduate its first doctor (seven years after a decision on the establishment), New Zealand will need 800 new doctors per year.
The new medical school would be based at the University of Waikato, but have clinical training alliances with other universities and medical facilities around New Zealand.
University of Waikato Vice-Chancellor Professor Neil Quigley said a third medical school was a “fundamental step” towards addressing the health workforce needs and reducing “our chronic reliance on importing our health workforce from overseas”.
“We consistently made the case for investment in a third medical school ... We are committed to establishing a medical school based here in the Waikato region but with partners in other parts of New Zealand, as well as to build a full range of allied health programmes.”
University of Waikato vice-chancellor, Professor Neil Quigley. Photo / Stephen Barker, Barker Photography
Quigley said that once established, the “New Zealand Graduate School of Medicine” would select up to 120 students who have already completed an undergraduate bachelor’s degree and provide them with four years of intensive, practical medical education.
Hamilton mayor Paula Southgate said the new medical school was good news for the city.
“This is something we have supported for a long time. Not only will it help support our country’s growing and ageing population, but it underscores our beautiful river city as a top education destination,” Southgate said.
Good said the benefits of the medical school would go beyond the city boundaries.
Leader of the National Party Christopher Luxon. Photo / Alex Burton
The plans for the Waikato medical school have been around for several years. In 2017, the University of Auckland and Otago were perturbed about the idea of a school in Hamilton, saying it was an “expensive folly’' that would place extreme pressure on medical trainee placements in the upper North Island.
For Dunedin, it would create more competition for research funding and senior staff. They both also said there would be a lack of trainee jobs for graduates.
Luxon said: “This medical school should have been started five years ago as the previous National Government planned. Labour cancelled it in 2018 and their short-sightedness means we will have to continue to rely heavily on immigration to increase our doctor numbers in the short term.”
Outgoing Labour MP for Hamilton East Jamie Strange.
Labour MP for Hamilton East Jamie Strange says his view on the new medical school has been consistent. “As a local MP, I support the establishment of a third medical school based at Waikato University, I always supported it. I advocated for it [in the past] but I haven’t been successful.”
“[The school] would need to work closely with the government and industry professionals to make sure that there are jobs for the students once they graduate.”
