New Zealand locum work

Hi all

As an Australian trained physiotherapist, I have pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I won't be practicing physio in the UK any time soon.

So have recently thought about doing locum work in New Zealand for a year or two so I can see a bit of this beautiful country. Registration etc is not a problem.

I was just wondering what kind of jobs are available to locums over there - either hospital and private practice. Is it easy to pick up short term locum positions and then move on, or is a permanent job more the go. Is accommodation easy to pick up?

I know the pay is less than Australia, and different between each health board, but I can't find anything concrete about pay in the public sector with Googling. If someone could give me an idea regarding pay it would be appreciated.

Also if any one could suggest a recruitment company that they have used to get to NZ it would be most appreciated and any other useful info. Are they essential? or could you pick up a job via Seek easily.

Cheers guys

go the brisbane broncos

Hi there - I am a Kiwi Physio currently living in Australia. There is plenty of work in NZ which is easy to access as an Aussie due to the trans-tasman agreement. The hospital system pays in a similar manner (NZ dollars though) to your Australian loading, with similar perks. All these jobs are on 'seek' on the Physiotherapy Society website. I disagree with your ascertation that you earn less in NZ.... If you work private practice there is scope for much more money. In terms of locum agencies, at the bottom of the Physiotherapy Society / Association employments page, there is an area for locum opportunities. There are often a few locum agencies which advertise here as well. Alternatively, the other good site is the Private Practice Association (very cheap practising insurance) who have a number of agencies who organise locums etc as well as job advertisements. My husband and I locumed between businesses around the North Island, and though there is much work (especially in the lovely small communities) accomodation is expensive during summer months etc (when locums are required). Therefore an agency would be a great help if you could negotiate accomodation deals through them.

Hope this is not too confusing!
Good Luck!
ps. Beware of Private Practices who are ACC Accredited. These will tend to push you into treating way too many patients in very short time frames as they are payed per person. Make sure you iron out all the creases in your contract first!:)

Thank you for that fantastic info and pointing me in the right direction - has definitely made the whole situation a lot clearer; some first hand knowledge greatly appreciated.

Will now just have to take the leap of organising all the formalities and booking the trans tasman flight.

All the best! If you have any queries about contracts and what they mean, as well as areas you are going to work in.... feel free to email!
Catch you later

Hey dude

I have a locum position from the 27/12/6 - 19/1/7, my ad is on the website. Am going overseas for 1 month and need someone to cover my practice

Inetersted?

Flick me an email : [email protected]

cheers

Atif