Registered nurse primary care scholarship

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is offering 120 advanced education scholarships to Registered Nurses working in primary and community healthcare settings for postgraduate nursing study leading to Registered Nurse designated prescriber or Nurse Practitioner. The aim is to improve the availability of prescribing services in primary and community healthcare services.

The first scholarships are for study in 2026.

Applications are open from Friday 29th August to Tuesday 30th September 2025.

The scholarship is for the following qualifications:

• PGDip Prescribing and
• Masters of Nursing (leading to registration as a Nurse Practitioner)

Please note: Exact names of qualifications and of courses/papers will vary by tertiary provider. If you are unsure if your qualification is included, please check the Nursing Council list or with your tertiary provider.

Postgraduate programmes - Nursing Council (external link)

The package can include:

• Tertiary education fees (paid directly to tertiary provider)
• Contribution towards course related costs
• Travel support for block courses attended outside of your district (if applicable)
• Completion and retention award for remaining in the primary or community healthcare settings.
• Clinical and cultural supervision
• Employer financial contribution to support release days, cover backfill, support clinical placement
• Rural employer support (if applicable)

The scholarship package is up to $45,000 per 120 credits.

The scholarship may be pro-rated and specific eligibility criteria will apply to some components.

You need to be a:

• registered nurse currently working in a clinical role in primary or community healthcare (minimum 0.4FTE), and throughout your study.
• be a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident.
• have a current APC with no conditions on your practice.

You can apply for a scholarship before you start your studies, part way through or even if you only have one paper left to go. Scholarships will be pro-rated according to how many papers you still need to complete. 

Eligible primary care settings include:

• Primary care general practice
• Aged care providers (except for retirement village only facilities)
• Primary Health Organisation
• Rural primary care or community care provider
• Hauora Māori and Pacific partners delivery primary care services
• Home and community support services
• Tamariki and youth services (including school nurses)
• Palliative care

For detailed eligibility criteria and other information see here for terms and conditions:

Terms and conditions [PDF, 248 KB]

Apply here when application open:

Registered nurse primary care scholarship - Health NZ (external link)

Application will be open between Friday 29th August and Tuesday 30th September.

You will require a My Health Account Workforce to log into the application portal. You may already have one. If not, you can set one up prior to scholarship applications opening.

To create a My Health Account Workforce account, you’ll need an email address that is unique to you (e.g. not a shared inbox). If you have already used this email address to register for My Health Account (for personal use) you can use it for My Health Account Workforce (for professional use) by adding a workforce profile to your account.

If you want to keep your personal My Health Account and your workforce My Health Account separate you can have two accounts with different email addresses.

To update the email address that your account is linked to just log into your My Health Account and change the email used.

You can set up an account or log in to check your account here:

My Health Workforce Account

Information on the personal information that is collected by Health NZ for the Registered Nurse Primary Care Scholarship programme and how that information will be used, stored and shared is in our Privacy Statement:

Privacy Statement [DOCX, 46 KB]

Applications will be checked for eligibility and then an assessment panel will review all valid applications. You can track your application in the online portal. We will notify you of the result. It may take 4–6 weeks after the closing date for applications to be processed.

When assessing applications, Health NZ may consider:

• location of applicants, and how they are geographically spread across the country
• how many Registered Nurse Prescribers and Nurse Practitioners are already working across each district
• how close an applicant is to finishing their qualification

Health NZ will make the final decision about whether scholarships are given, how many are awarded, who receives them, the value of the scholarship and where they can be used.

Please allow 6 weeks after the closing date for applications to be processed and reviewed and for you to be notified of the outcome.

For guidance on how to complete the application form, refer to the application guide:

Application guide [PDF, 150 KB]

If you can’t find the answer on this page, in the guidance or from your tertiary provider, email us on primarycarenursing@tewhatuora.govt.nz.