Amendment to Notice—Scopes of Practice and Prescribed Qualifications for the Practice of Medicine in New Zealand Notice 2024
Under section 14 of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (“Act”), Te Kaunihera Rata o Aotearoa | Medical Council of New Zealand (“Council”) gives notice of an amendment to the notice titled “Scopes of Practice and Prescribed Qualifications for the Practice of Medicine in New Zealand Notice 2024” published in the New Zealand Gazette, 30 September 2024, Notice No. 2024-sl4580 (“principal notice”).
This notice may be cited as the Scopes of Practice and Prescribed Qualifications for the Practice of Medicine in New Zealand Amendment Notice (No. 3) 2025 and will come into force on 3 February 2026.
This notice has the status of secondary legislation for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2019. This notice is published on the Council’s website www.mcnz.org.nz/about-us/publications/gazette-notices/.
This amendment affects the Teleradiology scope of practice.
The principal notice is amended by changing the reference to supervision that appears in the note placed immediately after the reference to the Teleradiology Special Purpose scope of practice from:
“Supervision of the doctor providing teleradiology services is to be provided by the clinical director of the New Zealand health facility.”
to
“Supervision of the doctor providing teleradiology services is to be provided by a vocationally-registered radiologist, who may be based outside New Zealand.”
The Teleradiology scope of practice appearing in the notice will, from the commencement of this amending notice, read as follows:
|
Note: Supervision of the doctor providing teleradiology services is to be provided by a vocationally-registered radiologist, who may be based outside New Zealand. The New Zealand-based health provider must have a dispute resolution process to facilitate the fair, simple, speedy and efficient resolution of complaints. This process must include automatic notification of the relevant authorities in New Zealand and the doctor’s home country should a complaint be received and must also permit and facilitate external review and investigation by those authorities. |
As part of ongoing work to ensure that registration policies and pathways are fit for purpose and enabling, Council chose to review and update its special purpose teleradiology scope by proposing to change the requirement that international medical graduates (IMGs) registered in the special purpose teleradiology scope of practice must be supervised by a vocationally registered doctor based in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Note this change does not alter the following requirements: supervisors must be vocationally registered, hold a current practising certificate in New Zealand, actively participate in the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR) recertification programme, and maintain a link to an approved New Zealand healthcare provider.
By introducing a degree of flexibility to the location of supervisors, this could potentially enhance the effectiveness of supervision arrangements, noting that supervisors would still have to be vocationally registered, hold a current practising certificate and maintain a link to a New Zealand healthcare provider. For example, if a supervisor is in the same country (or nearby country) as an IMG practising in the special purpose scope of teleradiology, this increases the opportunity to conduct face-to-face supervision meetings or training sessions in a similar time zone.
In July 2024, Council resolved to consult on changing the location of special purpose teleradiology supervisors. The consultation ran for 4 weeks from 21 July 2025 to 18 August 2025. A consultation paper, which provided details of the proposal and rationale behind it, was published on Council’s website; with specific invitations to respond sent to key stakeholders, including the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists, Te Whatu Ora – National Chief Executive Officer and Chief Clinical Officer, Chief Advisor Education; and teleradiology providers. Six submissions were received by the consultation deadline.
At its meeting on 2 October 2025, Council considered the feedback provided by stakeholders and resolved to approve the proposed change. Council was assured that supervisors will still have to be vocationally registered and hold a current practising certificate, as well as maintain a link to an approved New Zealand healthcare provider. Council was also satisfied that the change does not adversely impact on public safety or the maintenance of professional standards.
Dated at Wellington this 16th day of December 2025.
CHRISTINE ANDERSON, Registrar, Te Kaunihera Rata o Aotearoa | Medical Council of New Zealand.