Salaries for Doctors in NZ

P.S: This is an older article. Salary scales have since gone up :) You may still use this info to get a general idea of salary scales.

Before you decide to move to NZ, you would definitely like to know how much Doctors make on an average. Thanks to a recent survey conducted by TradeMe (one of NZ's top website), we now have some insight into the situation.

According to TradeMe's Salary Survey, doctors are among the top 5 highest paid professions in NZ.

At the time of the survey while the national annual salary in NZ was NZ$47,900, doctors and specialists made an average of $105,000 per annum with most junior doctors earning within the range of NZ$75k - $225k.

Qualifications and experience would certainly play an important role in how much one earns, like this doctor in Southern DHB who makes a whopping $830,000!

Either way, if you are a doctor in NZ, your salary will most likely make your neighbors green with envy (unless they are doctors too, or CEOs, or from the IT sector)

In NZ, the national agreement for specialists includes an allocation of 30% of your weekly roster available for “non-clinical” duties, plus includes 6 weeks paid annual leave per year plus up to NZ$16,000 and generous paid study leave dependent on seniority.

There are additional payments for on-call, callbacks and other additional responsibilities, and relocation incentives for more remote locations may be offered, although this is not standard and should not be expected.

NZ is an excellent location for a high-quality lifestyle!

Despite all this, a lot of NZ Doctors leave the country and migrate to countries like Aus or UK. Probably because they can make a lot more there then they can in NZ.

So now lets come down to what really matters to NZREX graduates.

How much does a House officer earn in New Zealand?

The answer to this question depends on a few factors.

1. Category Run
Category A has the highest working hours (65+), on the other hand, category F consists of 40-45 hours of weekly work. Needless to say, that category A runs are the highest paid amongst all!

As an NZREX pass out, you must do four 3-month runs. You can only do Category A or Category B runs during this period. Which must include atleast one 3-month category A medical run and one 3-month category A surgical run.

2. Location

Working in a non-urban location can get you a higher salary as compared to urban locations. Auckland, Waitemata, Counties Manukau, Waikato, Hutt Valley, Capital and Coast, Canterbury and Southern (Other than Invercargill Hospital-based runs) DHBs are considered Urban Locations.

Whereas Northland, Lakes, Taranaki, Tairawhiti, Hawkes Bay, Bay of Plenty, Whanganui, MidCentral, Wairarapa, Nelson Marlborough, South Canterbury, West Coast, and Invercargill Hospital-based runs at Southern DHB are considered Non-Urban Locations.

3. Position
The higher you are on the food chain ;) the more you get paid. Pretty obvious huh? Guess who is at the bottom of the food chain - 1st Year House officers!

• Non-urban Pay scales for House Officers

 *courtesy 2012-RDA-MECA

• Urban Pay scales for House Officers

*courtesy 2012-RDA-MECA

Salaries have since increased and the salary scales as of 2019 are much higher. There are also 2 competing unions in NZ for RMOs and that seems to have driven pay scales in favor of the doctors.

For more info on the survey, visit the original survey results page on TradeMe!

What are your views on this? Please let us know in the comments section below