Otago University welcomes new ministerial appointment

University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka Vice-Chancellor, the Hon Grant Robertson, congratulates the Hon Simeon Brown on his appointment as Minister of Health.

“We look forward to working with the Minister. Success in health is critical to our success as a nation and the University of Otago plays a vital role in the health sector, including training a large number of our future doctors,” Mr Robertson says.

“There is widespread agreement that New Zealand needs to train more doctors. Minister Brown now has the opportunity to make this happen in a cost effective and proven way.”

The University of Otago remains ready and willing to train more doctors if the Government lifts the restriction on the numbers the University is allowed to train and provides the relevant funding.

“We can also build on our successful rural medical training programmes to ensure we are meeting needs across Aotearoa New Zealand.

“There is no need to build an expensive additional medical school, at a time when resources in the health and education sector are limited.”

Otago has been training doctors for 150 years. Mr Robertson says there is a huge amount of expertise and resource from staff, through to accreditation of programmes, that has evolved over the years with a national presence to support this.

“This cannot be easily replicated by a new provider in the short-term or without considerable investment that might be better directed elsewhere within the stretched health and tertiary education systems.”

The recent PwC New Zealand report, Medical Education in New Zealand: Current state and consideration of future options (commissioned by Otago and Auckland University’s) highlights the existing medical training programmes have the capacity to train hundreds more doctors.

“The current limitation on the number of students we take stems from government restrictions on the number of domestic students it will fund, rather than a lack of institutional capability or willingness to take more,” Mr Robertson says.

“We have communicated repeatedly to Government our ability to increase our intake from 302 to 348 students. Looking ahead, we could raise our annual intake to 450 students from 2027.

“We believe it would be more effective for both Otago and Auckland Medical Schools to be able to increase the number of students they train each year. (see table below). This will not require any new capital funding. To accommodate new students, we would largely reconfigure use of existing facilities.

“All the Government needs to do is increase the number of students allowed to study medicine and provide the necessary funding.

“As well having existing infrastructure that enables us to scale up without capital from Government, there are economies of scale benefits we can provide with delivering medical education. The Universities of Otago and Auckland will be able to leverage existing resources under any form of increased capacity, including facilities, teaching faculty and back-office staff, IT licences and databases.”

Beyond the main campus sites in Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, Otago medical students in varying numbers are placed in hospital or health facilities in Palmerston North, Whanganui, Hastings, Tairawhiti/Gisborne, Dannevirke, and Masterton in the North Island, and in the South Island, in Marlborough, Nelson, Timaru, Ashburton, the West Coast, the Clutha, Central Otago/Lakes and Invercargill. These satellites include full rural immersion training placements in Ashburton, Clutha, Marlborough, Central Otago/Lakes, Dannevirke, Masterton, the West Coast, Wairoa and Alexandra.

Mr Robertson says there is a risk that both the capital expenditure and ongoing operating costs of a new medical school will be significantly higher than they are expected to be today.

“It has been claimed that the capital expenditure for a Waikato Medical School is $380 million. Based on our knowledge of the costs of medical school infrastructure, we are of the view that this costing is likely to be a significant underestimate. Further, the Government contribution to that expenditure (proposed to be around 70 per cent) represents an opportunity lost to invest to meet other pressing needs in the health and education sectors.”

Along with the initial capital expenditure, Mr Robertson says there is a substantial list of operating expenditure that will need to be factored into the establishment and ongoing operating costs of the proposed medical school such as creating new programmes, recruiting staff, curriculum development and support for students.

“We look forward to engaging with the new Minister on finding the most cost effective and impactful way to support more doctors being available to meet New Zealanders’ health needs wherever they live,” Mr Robertson says.

The Vice-Chancellor also congratulated Hon Shane Reti on taking up the Universities and Science and Innovation portfolios.

“Universities have an important role in shaping the future economic and social development of our country, and we will be looking to work with the Minister to support and enhance that work.”