16 September 2026

Aotearoa New Zealand’s shortage of specialist physicians is severe. The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) says this is not simply a workforce problem - it is an access - to - care crisis, leaving patients waiting too long for diagnosis and treatment, or unable to access specialist care at all, 

A new analysis by the RACP reveals that Aotearoa New Zealand has just 44 actively practising specialist physicians for every 100,000 people, compared with 66 per 100,000 people in Australia.

The analysis has been published in the RACP’s Aotearoa New Zealand election statement today, Let Us Care: A Plan to Improve Specialist Care for New Zealanders.

The statement reports only 61.2 per cent of patients receive their first specialist assessment within the recommended four-month timeframe – well below the Government’s 95 per cent target.  

RACP Aotearoa New Zealand President Associate Professor Janak de Zoysa says the specialist workforce shortage is being felt by patients.  

“New Zealanders are waiting too long for specialist care, and too many are not getting through the door at all. This is an access-to-care issue. Where someone lives should not determine whether they can see a specialist.”

The RACP analysis also reveals the specialist shortage burden is felt deepest by those living in rural areas, with approximately 16 per cent of New Zealanders living in these areas, but only around one per cent of RACP physicians are based there.

Associate Professor de Zoysa says these workforce gaps are creating specialist deserts across the country.

“Parts of New Zealand are becoming specialist deserts, leaving patients to travel long distances, wait longer or go without the care they need. A person’s postcode should not determine whether they can access specialist care.”

“Unless we substantially grow and better distribute the specialist workforce, these inequities will deepen.”

The RACP statement also says we have a major problem with retaining overseas trained physicians. 

“We’re doing well at recruiting overseas-trained doctors and they want to stay, but the health system is failing to keep them,” Associate Professor de Zoysa says.

“We have one of the highest proportions of International Medical Graduates (IMGs) in the OECD, they make up nearly half of the medical workforce. Yet only around 28.7% remain here after five years, compared with 84.9% of locally trained doctors.”

“Recruitment alone cannot solve New Zealand’s workforce shortage. We need to support and retain the specialists we train and recruit.”

Associate Professor de Zoysa says short-term approaches to workforce planning have failed to address the scale and persistence of the problem. 

“It takes at least 10 years to train a specialist - far longer than a single election cycle. Yet critical decisions about training places, supervision and workforce support continue to be made through short-term funding arrangements.”

“Our country needs a long-term plan that gives patients, health services and the medical workforce certainty about the future.”

“That plan also needs transparency and accountability, with regular public reporting so New Zealanders can see whether we are actually building the workforce we need.”

Let Us Care: A Plan to Improve Specialist Care for New Zealanders, outlines three actions to improve access to specialist care:

1. Legislate a 10-year National Health Workforce Plan that survives electoral cycles, backed by transparent annual workforce reporting, a national specialist workforce dashboard and independent review against workforce targets.

2. Build a sustainable specialist workforce through investment in training, support and retention, including protected training and supervision time, safe workloads, and support to retain both locally trained and internationally trained doctors.

3. Strengthen rural and regional training and workforce pathways so more specialists train in and remain in the communities where they are most needed, and New Zealanders can access care closer to home. 

The RACP is calling on all parties to take these commitments to the election.

“This crisis has developed over many years and will require sustained action extending beyond any one government term.”

“Building a sustainable specialist workforce is about more than increasing training numbers. We need to make specialist work sustainable, support the people already in the system, retain the doctors we recruit, and create stronger pathways into rural and regional practice.”

 “Without long-term planning and investment, patients will continue to wait, their health conditions will continue to worsen and the pressure on our hospitals will continue to grow.”

“These are practical, achievable actions that can improve access to specialist care and ensure more New Zealanders receive the right care, at the right time, regardless of where they live,” Associate Professor de Zoysa says.

Further details on the RACP’s asks can be found in the Aotearoa New Zealand Election Statement here.