In an exciting and meaningful step to help general practices trying to employ overseas trained doctors, ProCare has recently gained Accredited Employer status with Immigration New Zealand.

This means that practices who are part of the ProCare Network can now recruit international doctors via ProCare, something that many small to medium practices would struggle to achieve on their own.

Bindi Norwell, ProCare Group CEO says, “ProCare is delighted to have gained Accredited Employer status with Immigration NZ. This is an exciting step forward to support healthcare practices recruit international doctors, speeding up the process to recruit and place doctors in primary care, as well as saving a significant amount of time.

“Our practices are in much need of additional workforce support, and this is one simple, but tangible, way we are adding practical solutions for them. Given workforce shortages in New Zealand, healthcare practices are increasingly looking to recruit GPs from other international regions,” she continues.

“Recent announcements from the Health Minister Hon Simeon Brown will see an additional 100 clinical placements for overseas-trained doctors to work in primary care, so becoming an accredited employer means our pool of talent that we have access to has expanded immensely. It also means we can pragmatically support practices, and their patients, in a way we haven’t been able to in the past,” she continues.

Matt Prestwood, GM of People and Culture at ProCare says: “Accredited employers benefit from a simplified and faster visa process, reducing paperwork and processing times as ‘low-risk’ employers and put simply: can access off-shore talent that non accredited employers just can’t hire.

“We have already successfully placed UK-trained GPs in practices that otherwise wouldn’t have been able to meet the requirements needed to employ these overseas doctors. It’s fantastic to see the impact this is already having for our practices, and with new Medical Council-approved territories such as Japan and Korea, we are excited about our ability to more rapidly mobilise international talent where it’s really needed,” concludes Prestwood.

Dr Candida Hatherley, owner of Meadowbank Family Doctors, recently employed a GP from the UK using ProCare’s Accredited Employer status and had the following comment: “It was a game-changer for us being able to employ a fantastic British doctor seamlessly into our practice. The ProCare team took care of all the necessary employment and immigration paperwork and helped create a smooth onboarding process for welcoming our new GP.”

ProCare provides its international candidates with a wide range of pre-departure and post-arrival support and help. This includes all manner of logistics support around immigration and the various professional registration steps they must achieve, such as with the Medical Council and RNZCGP, but also with other essential aspects of moving country like schooling, shipping, banking, and housing.

ProCare also provides overseas GPs support with cultural competency through dedicated training resources such as Te Pūheke (a cultural competency course developed by ProCare) and access to apps like ihi and Tala-Moana to upskill in Māori and Pacific culture, tikanga and language.