Bay hospitals popular with graduate doctors

Whakata¯ne and Rotorua hospitals have landed the top spots as the preferred places to work by graduating doctors.

Tauranga Hospital was ninth in a list of 20 national hospitals.

Each year the New Zealand Resident Doctors’ Association asks final-year students at New Zealand Medical Schools to rank their preferences for which hospital they wish to start work in as a qualified doctor.

Whakata¯ne Hospital was top of the list as the preferred employer, with twice as many applicants as positions.

Bay of Plenty District Health Board (BOPDHB) medical director Hugh Lees said junior doctors were highly valued at Whakata¯ne, Rotorua and Tauranga hospitals.

Lees said Whakata¯ne fostered close working relationships between junior doctors, senior doctors and other staff and provided a wonderful opportunity for a broad range of clinical experience for doctors starting their careers.

“Being a smaller more rurally-based hospital, junior doctors will often be the first person a patient will see and so they will quickly gain valuable experience in diagnosis of complaints.

“Whakata¯ne is also a new hospital, only being opened in 2014, so is very much a modern working environment.”

He said it was interesting to note that three of six new doctors due to start working with the BOPDHB soon were involved in the Rural Health Interprofessional Immersion Programme (RHIIP) in 2017. 2. 4. Hospital. New Plymouth Hospital. 8. Middlemore Hospital. 9. Tauranga Hospital. 10. Auckland City Hospital. 11. Gisborne Hospital. 12. Palmerston North Hospital. 13. Timaru Hospital. 14. North Shore & Waitakere Hospitals. 15. Hastings Hospital. 16. Dunedin Hospital. 17. Waikato Hospital. 18. Invercargill Hospital. 19. Wairau Hospital. 20. Whanganui Hospital.

This programme allows healthcare students from a range of disciplines, including medical students, to spend time in the Eastern Bay gaining valuable experience. “Whakata¯ne is a small but growing town and there is definitely still that community feel there. And it’s also the sunshine capital of New Zealand so there is the lifestyle element to consider as well.”

Jenny Martelli, emergency and medical management services manager at Lakes District Health Board, said it was pleasing to see Rotorua Hospital continued to be a popular choice for final-year medical students.

“As the years go by, a number of these doctors make the decision to return to Rotorua to work as consultants and become permanent members of our Lakes communities.”