A GP role in rural Southland — and the life that comes with it.
Fifteen-minute consults. Twenty to twenty-two patients a day. Daily admin time that is protected in the roster rather than promised in an interview. A 24/7 emergency department a minute from the front door — and gin-clear trout water minutes from your own.
Permanent or locum. GP-owned, Cornerstone accredited, supervision on site for internationally trained doctors, and a straight-to-residence pathway built into the role. Direct from the practice — no agency in the middle.
- 15 min
- Standard consult
- 20–22
- Patients a day
- $210–217k
- NZD, indicative
- 5 weeks
- Annual leave
- 1 min
- To a 24/7 ED
- 8,200
- Enrolled patients
Or have this role sent straight to you → — so it's waiting when you open the app.
Don't go hunting for this one — have it waiting for you.
- Sent to your app — no hunting through hundreds of clinics
- Checked against your registration — know if you fit before you apply, not after
- Anonymous until you apply — no CV, and the clinic sees nothing until they accept
Nobody sells a practice like the doctors in it.
“I came here to do my GP training and loved it so much I’m staying. It’s a very supportive team with lots of learning opportunities and a great rural, family feel.”
“This workplace has become like family to me. We value continuity of care — patients see the same doctor — but the team ensures no one is ever left without support.”
“I found the practice to be very open in terms of accommodating what I wanted to do — specifically skin surgery. It’s a pleasure to work here. Southland is probably the most beautiful part of NZ.”
“I came here to do my GP training and loved it so much I’m staying. It’s a very supportive team with lots of learning opportunities and a great rural, family feel.”
“This workplace has become like family to me. We value continuity of care — patients see the same doctor — but the team ensures no one is ever left without support.”
“I found the practice to be very open in terms of accommodating what I wanted to do — specifically skin surgery. It’s a pleasure to work here. Southland is probably the most beautiful part of NZ.”
“I came here to do my GP training and loved it so much I’m staying. It’s a very supportive team with lots of learning opportunities and a great rural, family feel.”
“This workplace has become like family to me. We value continuity of care — patients see the same doctor — but the team ensures no one is ever left without support.”
“I found the practice to be very open in terms of accommodating what I wanted to do — specifically skin surgery. It’s a pleasure to work here. Southland is probably the most beautiful part of NZ.”
“I came here to do my GP training and loved it so much I’m staying. It’s a very supportive team with lots of learning opportunities and a great rural, family feel.”
“This workplace has become like family to me. We value continuity of care — patients see the same doctor — but the team ensures no one is ever left without support.”
“I found the practice to be very open in terms of accommodating what I wanted to do — specifically skin surgery. It’s a pleasure to work here. Southland is probably the most beautiful part of NZ.”
“All GPs have allocated daily admin time that is protected.”
Most clinics say it. This one wrote it down, unprompted, as the one thing it wanted a doctor to know — and every GP here has that time blocked in the roster.
What an ordinary Tuesday actually looks like.
Specifics beat adjectives. Everything here comes from the practice’s own answers, not from a brochure.
Protected admin time
Every GP has allocated daily admin time and nothing is rostered over it. This is the practice’s own line, not ours — and it is the single thing doctors tell us they stopped believing when a clinic says it.
An acute doctor, every day
One doctor is rostered to the acute list daily, so a chest pain at 11am doesn’t detonate the rest of your book. Consults are 15 minutes, typically 20–22 patients, on Indici.
Ten nurses and a clinical pharmacist
Ten practice nurses, three health care assistants, a clinical pharmacist, a Health Improvement Practitioner and a health coach. On-site lab collection every morning until 12.30pm.
A 24/7 ED one minute away
The local hospital is about a minute from the front door — a 24/7 emergency department with an HDU, inpatient beds, maternity and radiology. The regional base hospital is about an hour on.
GP-owned, not corporate
Seven GPs including two hands-on GP Directors, plus a Practice Manager and Finance Officer. Cornerstone accredited, and an RNZCGP accredited teaching practice.
Any special interest welcome
Skin, women’s health, mental health, musculoskeletal, aged care — the practice has accommodated special interests before and will again. Nine GP consulting rooms, a minor surgery suite, ECG, spirometry and bedside ultrasound on site.
Stay for a season, or stay for good.
The practice is genuinely open to both — and plenty of locums here have turned into something longer.
Make it your last move
Permanent, or a fixed term of twelve months or more. Around 0.8 FTE and negotiable, with a start date between January and March 2027 that is also negotiable — three to six months is workable for the practice.
- Partnership or practice buy-in may be available
- Structured to meet Green List Tier 1 — the straight-to-residence route
- Active support towards FRNZCGP, with protected time and a fee contribution
- The practice will help your family settle, not just you
The assignment that feels like a working holiday
Paid on a daily or sessional rate, flexible on sessions and start dates. The set-up cost of saying yes is close to nil — and you walk into a practice that is already organised.
- Temporary accommodation provided when you arrive
- MCNZ registration and APC fees, indemnity and RNZCGP membership covered
- Ten nurses, a clinical pharmacist and an acute doctor rostered daily
- A genuine path into a longer-term role if you don’t want to leave
Finish morning clinic. Go home for lunch. Fish gin-clear water before dinner.
Two hours to Central Otago, the Queenstown and Wanaka ski fields, Te Anau and Fiordland, the Catlins coast, Stewart Island and Dunedin.
The whole pathway is already in place here.
Most overseas listings leave you to solve registration, supervision and residence yourself. This one doesn’t — which is the entire reason it is worth a look even if New Zealand wasn’t on your list this morning.
Straight to residence
General practice sits on New Zealand's Green List Tier 1. The role is structured to meet all four conditions — permanent or a fixed term of twelve months or more, under an employment agreement, at thirty or more hours a week, paid at market rate. We'll walk you through each one honestly before you commit to anything.
Three supervisors, on site
The practice has three vocationally registered GPs ready to be nominated to the Medical Council, and takes one supervised doctor at a time. It is an RNZCGP accredited teaching practice and will support you towards FRNZCGP with protected time and a negotiable contribution to your fees. It asks for at least three years' post-registration experience and would ideally like a current ACLS certificate when you arrive.
Registration pathways the practice will support
Already vocationally registered
FRNZCGP, or FRACGP / FACRRM through the College’s reciprocal agreements. No supervision required — you can practise independently from day one.
UK, Ireland or Australia — VOC4
Provisional vocational registration. The practice supplies the supervisor, and has three vocationally registered GPs ready to be nominated to the Council.
USA, Canada or Singapore — VOC3 fast-track
The accelerated assessment route. Again, supervision comes from the practice rather than being something you have to go and find.
Comparable health system — general scope
The practice completes the REG4 and provides approved on-site supervision for around twelve months, then supports you towards Fellowship.
Not sure which one you're on? That is a completely normal thing not to know. Put “not sure” on the form and we'll work it out with you.
NZD $210,000–$217,000, and what sits around it.
Indicative and negotiable, paid on a daily or sessional rate. A stated range beats “competitive” — you cannot compare a blank against three other countries.
- MCNZ registration and APC fees paid
- Medical indemnity paid
- RNZCGP membership paid
- CME allowance, scaled to your hours
- Protected daily admin time
- KiwiSaver employer contribution
- Five weeks’ annual leave
- Relocation contribution (negotiable)
- Contribution towards your flights
- Temporary accommodation when you land
What isn't included, said plainly: there is no guaranteed minimum, no sign-on or retention payment, no ongoing housing subsidy or vehicle, and visa fees are currently the doctor's to cover — though like most of the above, negotiable. We would rather you read that here than find it in month three.
Rural city living — and a house you can actually buy.
Around NZD $475,000 to buy, roughly $550 a week to rent. Early childhood centres, four primary schools and two secondary schools, all an easy walk or drive. Partners find work at the hospital, the schools, the district council, local accountancy and law firms and across a large agricultural sector.
World-famous trout water
Gin-clear rivers, famous mayfly hatches and spinner falls, minutes from the front door. Several other rivers within an easy drive if your usual beat is busy.
A town you can walk across
A friendly district of around 13,000. No traffic lights. Mountain bike and walking tracks along the river, an award-winning sports complex with indoor pools and an ice rink, a proper cinema, a respected regional art gallery.
Four real seasons
Winters cold but often clear and crisp, snow perhaps once a year, summers genuinely warm, and autumn colour the locals will tell you about whether you ask or not.
Why doctors stay
Most GPs here arrived for a job. They stayed for a life.
One came to train and never left. One has been a Director for eleven years. One came from Zimbabwe by way of the UK and built a skin surgery list because he asked and the practice said yes. Nobody is counting down to somewhere else — which is the only review of a practice that really matters.
No CV, no recruiter, no fee — ever.
Heart Bridge Health is a marketplace, not an agency and not a job board. Doctors are free forever; clinics are the paying side. There is no commission riding on where you end up.
Tell us you’re interested
Two minutes on the form above. That is all we need to route this role to you — with nothing committed on your side.
Create your free profile
Download the app and set yourself up. Our team attaches this role to your account, so it is sitting at the top of your listings rather than buried among hundreds of clinics.
Apply, and see who they are
The app checks the role against your registration, scope and right to work, so you know if you fit before you apply. When the clinic accepts, you see exactly who they are and talk to them directly — we step out.
The questions doctors actually ask us.
01How do I actually apply?
02Is this a permanent role or a locum?
03What does it actually pay?
04I trained overseas. Can I actually work here?
05Who supervises me, and are they actually there?
06Does this role support residence?
07What about the visa itself?
08What is the after-hours commitment?
09Can I bring my family?
10What does Heart Bridge Health cost me?
Roles this well organised don't sit open.
Applications run through the app — free forever, anonymous until you apply, and it tells you how you match before you do. Grab it below, and leave us your details so this role is waiting for you instead of buried among hundreds of clinics.
Every figure on this page comes from the practice's own completed intake document and is indicative until confirmed in writing with them. Immigration and Medical Council of New Zealand requirements change — confirm your own position with MCNZ and Immigration New Zealand. Nothing here is immigration, financial or legal advice. See also our international waitlist if New Zealand isn't the only country you'd consider.