emilysimpson31

Hello,

I am currently working as a Midwife in the UK and looking to move to the south Island New Zealand with my Husband and 3 children. I am also a registered Nurse and would be happy to get a Job as either. Nursing would probably be easier as I qualified 5 years ago and have only just qualified as a Midwife. I do have a Brother who has lived in New Zealand for 16 years so he could sponsor my family. Has anyone got experience in the Health service that has emigrated and can tell me how to get started and how their experience was for them, all tips would be appreciated.

Sue

Hi Emily,

Welcome to BE. I'm not in New Zealand but I wanted to pop along and say hi and welcome you to our little community.

I've also moved your thread to the NZ forum for you, that way you will get more eyes on your thread.

I'm sure someone will be along soon who can give you some pointers. In the meantime take some time to read through the other threads. If you are looking for specific topics of discussion you can use the search function here.

lisamct

Hi
Im a UK trained midwife working here in the North Island.
You'll have to decide whether you want to work as a midwife or a nurse as you'll have to go through a pretty rigorous registration process for whichever you choose so you'll need to decide which to apply for. You can register as a midwife with no experience but you might find it difficult, but not impossible, to find a hospital willing to employ you.
Whichever you choose you then need to get your NZ registration, it can be a lengthy process so take that into account when your thinking about time scales.
You can look for a job before you get your registration, most adverts will say they require it but most will interview you/make you an offer if your already going through the process. Jobs can be found by either going direct to the DHB websites and applying through their recruitment pages or by using an agency. Most agencies are free but if you already know where you want to work applying direct is probably the easiest option.

Hope that helps and makes sense, I'm in the middle of a stretch of nights so my brain isn't exactly functioning as normal!

Snazishaz

Hi Emily

I am also an RN, i got in touch with a health care agency called Accent health care, i completed an online application sent them my CV and some references, they did the rest i got a couple of job offers one in Wellington and one in Christchurch which i accepted. I had the job offer 6mth before i came. The agency were great, they met me on arrival gave me a welcome grocery pack and wine, and even sent me a xmas gift. They were fab and the service is free. I also had an interview with them in glasgow very informal but nice. They always have interviews in the Uk throughout the year. If this is something that interests you PM me and i will forward your details to one of the girls as i still keep in touch with them.

The healthcare system is different here but the principles are the same we are a little behind the uk mind you. From a nursing point of view the nurse to patient ratio is one nurse to a max of 5 pts, acuities can be high but on a whole the work load is managable. I started of in surgical, progressed to high dependency and im now in the emergency department. Depending on how many years experience you have depends on your level of pay. ie if you have 2 yrs nursing experience you start as an RN 2 if you have 5yrs experience you start as RN 5. Every year on the anniversary of your start date you go up a level. Without post grad study you will only go to an RN 5 which is the highest for an RN. working full time hrs which is 40 hrs per wk here your start pay is around 61k. However if you work a public holiday you get double time plus a day in leu. Sick pay is also calculated as per your hrs of work if you work full time you get 10days sick pay per yr (no were like the uk ) We get paid every two wks also. Annual leave is also accrued, works out about 4wks a year again no were like uk. Nursing defo more laid back here, but some days like everywere the challenges are there. Hope this has been helpful. Good Luck!

allisonwantstoemigrate

I approached Accent but unfortunately they didn't help me much.

Their answer was basically "we've never recruited public health nurses"....and that was the end of that conversation!

I'm sure they are ok for other nurses though!

Snazishaz

Hi sorry you got this answer, i have indeed found them very helpful. Was it a community based job you were after ? I know they recruit for the cdhb, it could be all hospital based, im not sure good luck with your new adventure.

allisonwantstoemigrate

To be honest, There seem to be a lack of public health school nurse jobs in nz. I'm seriously thinking of changing my plans to come over!

I'm starting to feel that I've narrowed my field of practice; and I don't fancy going back to childrens nursing on the wards; it's been over 11 years since I went into community work!

Snazishaz

Sorry but i really dont think you get public health school nurses here and if you do i have never heard of it, maybe someone knows different in fact even community based is hard to get into. There are plenty of jobs around if you want to work in public hospitals. Can be in areas like recovery or day surgery and things like that were you work mon-frid. I believe its the same in Auzi my friend is emigrating there this nov she has been a school nurse and community nurse in uk for a long time and cant get this type of work i believe she is going back to the ward. Another option is practice nursing but again its like hens teeth to get into i know ive been trying since i got here 2 yrs ago. Its just not like the uk am afraid to say. Good luck with whatever you choose.

Tomsk

Hi Alison, at risk of taking this thread even further off topic, I can reassure you that there are public health nurses in NZ. I can't comment on Canterbury DHB but up here in Rotorua we have Public Health Nurses who function in very much the same kind of way as School Nurses do in the UK. I should probably qualify that by saying that I've never been a School Nurse, so there are bound to be differences in the role, I'm just not familiar enough with it to comment fully. That said PHN's here are also responsible for tracking Rheumatic fever & administering monthly bicillin injections to youngsters who don't get to their GP surgery to get it.
I work as a Rural Health Nurse in the rural area between Rotorua & Taupo and a part of my role is PH nursing (the PHN's in the towns don't generally travel this far out) so I get to go into the primary schools, kindy's & the high school to provide health care to them. I love my rural health job, interesting, varied, challenging........ occasionally a bit too challenging but I work with a great team which always helps! I also work 2 days a week as a Practice Nurse in town. I had been a PN in the UK for around 10 years before moving over here & the job is quite different here.
Anyway, bit of a long ramble but there are jobs available in the field that you want! Problem is they're popular jobs & employers can fill them from within NZ so they don't need to wait for overseas applicants or to use recruitment consultants. I was lucky enough to simply be in the right place at the right time, spot the advert in the local paper & apply. I'm not sure where that leaves you though. I'd be amazed if you found your dream job here from the UK so if NZ is your dream you may need to consider taking a job here that will get you into the country & in the work force then job hunt like crazy once you're here. Get to network with the PHNs & get yourself known. Of course I can't guarantee that you'd land the job you want even by doing things that way but IMHO there's a far better chance of getting it from here than from the UK. It's a gamble. Good luck with it.