Voluntary Bonding Scheme 2023 intake information

The 2023 intake online Registration of Interest period closed Sunday 2^nd April 2023. No further registrations can be considered.

Those who have registered ought to have received an emailed letter (11-12 May 2023) with formal confirmation that they have obtained a place in the 2023 intake.

If you have not received this email, check your junk, spam and unread email folders. If it’s not there, please email us.

If you have received your letter, for now, all you need to do is:

• abide by the 2023 Terms and Conditions for your profession
• email us at vbs@health.govt.nz if your email address changes
• advise us if your career plans have changed and you no longer wish to continue in the Scheme.

The full list of eligible professions, specialties and communities for the 2023 intake can be found below.

The Scheme’s 2023 intake registration period closed 2^nd  April 2023. 488 registrations were received across the Scheme’s professions, and all registrants were accepted.

The accepted registrants strongly align with a number of the Government’s key workforce priority areas.

Across all categories, 91 registrants are Māori (18.6%), the second highest number within an intake, just behind the record 2021 intake (94).

Across all categories, 69 registrants are from Pacific peoples (14.1%), the highest within any intake of the Scheme and a strong increase (25 percent) on 2022 (55).

The intake is comprised of:

• 347 Registered and enrolled nurses, including 204 working in mental health and addictions, (the highest number ever within an intake), 44 in aged residential care and older person’s health services, and 99 working across a range of other hard-to-staff specialties and communities. 
• 71 midwives in the hardest-to-staff communities, 17 (24%) of whom are Māori and 6 (8.5%) of whom are Pacific peoples
• 30 rural and regional general practice trainees
• 8 sonographers and 11 radiation therapists working in the Aotearoa New Zealand public sector and
• 15 dentists and 6 oral health therapists working for Māori oral health providers or rural and remote practices, the highest numbers within any intake of the Scheme

Email us at vbs@health.govt.nz if you have any questions.

Postgraduate General Practice Trainees (PGY3-6), who commence(d) GPEP1, 2, or 3 in early 2023

• Bay of Plenty (excluding Tauranga and Whakatāne urban)
• Canterbury (excluding, Christchurch other than Banks Peninsula)
• Capital & Coast (excluding Wellington and Porirua)
• Hawke’s Bay
• Lakes
• Midcentral
• Nelson Marlborough (excluding Nelson/Richmond)
• Northland
• South Canterbury
• Southern (excluding Dunedin, Mosgiel and Invercargill)
• Tairāwhiti
• Taranaki
• Waikato (excluding Hamilton)
• Wairarapa
• West Coast
• Whanganui

Registered Nurses — 2023 Intake (2022 graduates)

Specialties

• Aged Care (aged residential care and older persons' health services)
• Mental Health (hospital and community, including addiction services)
• District Nursing
• Well Child/Tamariki Ora
• Primary/Practice Nursing within:
  • Māori or Pacific Providers
  • Auckland
  • Counties Manukau
  • Waitematā
  • Taranaki

Or

Communities

• South Canterbury
• Wairoa District
• West Coast

Enrolled Nurses — 2023 Intake (2022 graduates)

Specialties

• Aged Care (aged residential care and older persons' health services)
• Mental Health (hospital and community, including addiction services)

Midwives: Core-Employed and Lead Maternity Carers —2023 Intake (2022 and early 2023 graduates)

• Auckland
• Bay of Plenty
• Capital & Coast
• Counties Manukau
• Hawkes Bay
• Hutt Valley
• Lakes
• South Canterbury
• Taranaki
• Waitematā

Sonographers — 2023 Intake (2022 graduates)

• Publicly funded health facilities

Radiation Therapists — 2023 intake (2022 graduates)

• Publicly funded health facilities.

Medical Physicists — 2023 intake (who complete TEAP in 2022)

• Publicly funded health facilities

Dentists and Oral Health Therapists — 2023 Intake (2020, 2021, and 2022 graduates PGY1-3)

• Te Hiku Hauora – Kaitaia  
• Ngāti Hine Health Trust – Kawakawa 
• Raukura Hauora o Tainui – Kirikiriroa / Hamilton
• Te Manu Toroa – Tauranga  
• Tipu Ora – Rotorua 
• Ngāti Porou Hauora – Te Puia Springs and Ruatoria
• Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga – Heretaunga / Hastings  
• Ora Toa PHO – Porirua  

Or

• Māori Oral Health Providers (to be assessed on a case-by-case basis) *
• Pacific Oral Health Providers (to be assessed on a case-by-case basis) *
• practices located in rural or remote areas (to be assessed on a case-by-case basis) *

* prior to a registrant’s confirmation on the Scheme. Oral health practices in semi-rural hubs (i.e., smaller towns) and Te Whatu Ora roles may be considered on a case-by-case basis if it can be verified that the role provides significant services to surrounding rural and semi-rural populations and/or to Māori and/or Pacific communities.