Tēnā koutou katoa,
We are now less than two months out from the 2026 General Election. Our College has released its election statement: Let Us Care: A Plan to Improve Specialist Care for New Zealanders. Our statement highlights the impact of delays in access to specialist care and the growing unmet healthcare need affecting patients across New Zealand. It also outlines practical and achievable actions to improve access to specialist care, strengthen an under-pressure health workforce, and deliver better outcomes. We have been meeting with the major political parties to discuss this plan, and we have sent members an advocacy pack to raise these issues with their local politicians. On 6 October we are also hosting a Town Hall event, where we have invited health spokespersons from all parties to discuss their policies and responses to our election statement. Register for the Town Hall event.
I recently attended the Aotearoa New Zealand Trainees’ Day organised by Sylvia Duncan and Georgia Buddle, Co-Chairs of the NZ Trainees’ Committee. This annual event is attended by basic and advanced trainees and provides insights into training as well as networking opportunities. The divisional clinical exams were completed with a superb pass rate: 84.6% for the 39 paediatric candidates and 91.7% for the 109 adult candidates. I would like to especially thank Richard Germann, Denise Moraw, Andrew Stanley and Valerie Ozorio, who led teams from Tauranga, Rotorua and North Shore and hosted additional exams out of cycle. Current projections indicate that candidate numbers in 2027 will remain consistent with or surpass the 2026 cohort. We need more examiners — if you are interested in examining in 2027, please contact Examinations@racp.org.nz. Training and annual calibration is provided to support new and returning examiners. Written exams are planned for Tuesday 20 October, and I wish the 79 candidates sitting the best of luck.
The Technology Committee of our College is meeting regularly, and I took the opportunity to attend last week. One of the key focuses is TRELLiS, a foundational investment in technology that will modernise our College’s core platforms and improve the member experience. The programme is also reducing technology and cyber risk by replacing legacy systems, strengthening security, and moving to modern cloud-based platforms. The first horizon is planned for rollout in 2027, and should deliver a simpler member experience through a new MyRACP, seamless login and navigation, easier payments and enquiries, and modernised CRM, finance and data platforms.
The Board has been meeting regularly, with the last meeting held in Wellington. Management advised that we have a net surplus for the year-to-date with stable net assets. Governance issues continue to be actively addressed.
Don’t forget to check out the Aotearoa New Zealand webpage for all the latest news and updates, including an interview with Dr Richard Seemann, President of the Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, and Dr Rod Nicholson from the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
If you have any questions or feedback, please do not hesitate to contact me or a member of the Aotearoa New Zealand Committee.
Janak de Zoysa