new Waikato medical school<\/a> will be placed in five regions around the country from 2029.<\/p>\nAccording to Health Minister Simeon Brown: “We know that where doctors train often influences where they practise. By embedding students in regional and rural communities, we’re creating a pathway for more doctors to stay and work in the areas that need them most.”<\/p>\n
The specific locations are:<\/p>\n
Waikato: Waikato Hospital; communities including North Waikato, Hauraki\/Thames-Coromandel, South Waikato, and Waip\u0101\/King Country
\nBay of Plenty: Tauranga Hospital; communities including Western Bay of Plenty and Rotorua
\nTaranaki\/Whanganui: Taranaki Base and Whanganui Hospitals; communities including New Plymouth and Whanganui
\nHawke’s Bay: Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital; communities including Hastings and Wairoa
\nNelson\/Marlborough: Nelson and Wairau Hospitals; communities including Richmond and Blenheim<\/p>\n
As a graduate-entry programme, students of the New Zealand Graduate School of Medicine (NZGSM) would complete their first year at the University of Waikato Hamilton campus before embarking on the three-year clinical placement programme in one of the five regions announced on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Professor Jo Lane, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Health at the University of Waikato, said identifying the clinical placement regions was an important step in establishing the programme.<\/p>\n
![\"Pro](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4JN7I9T_Pro_Vice_Chancellor_of_Health_Professor_Jo_Lane_addresses_the_crowd_at_the_announcement_of_N.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
\nPro Vice-Chancellor of Health Professor Jo Lane addresses the crowd at the announcement
\nPhoto: Supplied\n<\/p>\n
“We’ve engaged extensively with a wide range of stakeholders in each community who might partner with us in training the doctors they need,” Lane said.<\/p>\n
“The response has been overwhelmingly positive, and we look forward to this next phase of establishing the NZGSM, working in partnership to strengthen regional workforce pathways and a more sustainable health system over time.”<\/p>\n
New community clinical learning centres (CCLCs) would also be established in each location where students were based, serving as University of Waikato teaching sites.<\/p>\n
![\"Health](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4JN7IXC_Health_Minister_Simeon_Brown_addresses_the_crowd_at_the_announcement_of_New_Zealand_Graduate.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
\nHealth Minister Simeon Brown at the University of Waikato.
\nPhoto: Supplied\n<\/p>\n
The university said these would provide a key link with communities, pastoral support for students, and interprofessional education opportunities for the University’s medical, nursing, midwifery and pharmacy students.<\/p>\n
Associate health minister Matt Doocey explained: “By embedding students in rural communities, we can help grow the frontline health workforce in the areas that need it most.”<\/p>\n
The school was expected to welcome its first cohort of 120 students in 2028, with its first clinical placements starting in 2029.<\/p>\n
Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An artist’s impression of a University of Waikato Community Clinical Learning Centre. Photo: Supplied Students of the new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472206,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-472205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4JN6U4M_An_artist_s_impression_of_a_University_of_Waikato_Community_Clinical_Learning_Centre_png.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n