Am I eligible?
The number of places in the Voluntary Bonding Scheme is limited each year subject to registrations of interest.
In order to receive payment, graduates must stay on the Scheme for three years and cannot stay on the Scheme for longer than five years.
In 2011, the Scheme is being offered to doctors, nurses and midwives. Voluntary bonding may be considered for other specialties and communities in the years to come.
There are limited places available. To be eligible for one of those places, an applicant must be:
- a graduate from a New Zealand accredited tertiary institute and
- willing to work in a hard-to-staff area for three to five years.
These are defined below:
View also information on how the definitions and eligibility criteria for the Scheme will be reviewed.
Definition of graduate
The Voluntary Bonding Scheme is primarily designed for health professionals who are in their first year of postgraduate training. Therefore, only doctors, nurses or midwifes who have graduated from an accredited training institute in New Zealand (listed on the Terms and Conditions page) in 2010 and who fall into one of the following categories will be eligible for the 2011 Voluntary Bonding Scheme
Medical graduate eligibility criteria:
2010 graduates who will work in one of the hard-to-staff communities for doctors for up to two years then be accepted on, and be completing, a vocational training programme for one of the hard-to-staff specialties for doctors for the remainder of the three to five year bonding period.
Medical graduates have three years to complete their two year requirement in a hard-to-staff community. Those accepted onto the 2011 Voluntary Bonding Scheme must have entered vocational training in a hard-to-staff specialty by 1 July 2015. No more than two years in a community will count towards their bonding period.
Should the graduate complete their vocational training before the end of the bonding period, they must continue to work in a hard to staff specialty to be eligible for the remaining payments.
Midwifery graduate eligibility criteria:
2010 graduates who will work in one of the hard-to-staff communities for midwives for the next three to five years. Both DHB-employed and Lead Maternity Carer (LMC) midwives are eligible for the Scheme.
Graduates must undertake the Midwifery First Year of Practice programme.
Nursing graduate eligibility criteria:
2010 graduates who will work in one of the hard-to-staff specialties specified for 2011 for nurses (in any location) for the next three to five years.
Graduates must undertake appropriate entry to practise training, which may include:
- Nursing Entry to Practic
- Nursing Entry to Specialist Practice – Mental Health and Addiction
- Employer-run programmes
Definition of hard-to-staff communities and specialties
The Ministry of Health has defined the following hard-to-staff communities and specialties for medicine, midwifery and nursing.
Medicine
The hard-to-staff communities for doctors are:
- Northland DHB
- Lakes DHB
- Tairawhiti DHB
- Whanganui DHB
- Wairarapa DHB
- West Coast DHB
- South Canterbury DHB
- Southland
- Taranaki DHB
- Wairau Hospital
- Whakatane Hospital
- Thames Hospital.
The hard-to-staff specialties for doctors (in any community) are:
- general practitioner
- general surgeon
- internal medicine physician (Adult)
- psychiatry
- pathology
- rural hospital medicine.
Doctors must satisfy both the hard-to-staff community and hard-to-staff specialty criteria at the end of the initial three year bonding period.
Midwifery
The hard-to-staff communities for midwives are:
- Northland DHB
- Counties Manukau DHB
- Waitemata DHB
- Hawke's Bay DHB
- Taupo
- Taranaki DHB
- Whanganui DHB
- Hutt Valley DHB
- Wairarapa DHB
- South Canterbury DHB
- Southland
- West Coast DHB.
Nursing
The hard-to-staff specialties for nurses are:
- aged care
- mental health
- theatre
- intensive care (ICU)
- cardiothoracic
- surgical.
Note that preference will be given to graduates who intend to work in the aged care and mental health specialties.
The rules of the Scheme are set out on the terms and conditions page.
Reviewing the Scheme
The Scheme definitions and eligibility criteria will be reviewed periodically. Applicants already selected for the Scheme will not be adversely impacted by any changes to the definition and eligibility criteria.
In 2009, the Ministry commissioned an external review of the establishment and implementation of the Voluntary Bonding Scheme. This review was intended to identify possible process improvements following the first year of the Scheme.
Download this review: Review of the Establishment and Implementation of the Voluntary Bonding Scheme (PDF, 155.89 KB)
For any questions regarding the Scheme please contact bonding@moh.govt.nz.