This is the number the agencies gate hardest. The resident-doctor agreement defines a locum and sets a floor; the specialist agreement sets no rate; and Health New Zealand has said in public what it actually pays. All three are here.
RMO locum shift — the agreement's minimum
The NZRDA agreement is unusually plain about this. Its definitions clause says:
So the floor for a locum shift in a public hospital is the additional-duties table — the same rates a permanent RMO gets for a voluntary extra shift:
| Grade | 08:00–22:00 | 22:00–08:00 |
|---|---|---|
| House Officer | $60/hr | $90/hr |
| Senior House Officer | $75/hr | $115/hr |
| Registrar | $85/hr | $130/hr |
| Senior Registrar | $120/hr | $180/hr |
Registrar in a recognised vocational training programme who has passed Part I exams or equivalent and is on Step 4 or higher of the Registrar scale. Call-backs are paid for at least 3 hours. cl. 11.2 (NZRDA), 15.2 (STONZ), 14.3
In the Auckland metro districts there is no separate locum bureau: RMOs who want to locum are engaged directly by Health NZ as casual employees, most of them already permanently employed by Health NZ and picking up extra shifts at other districts. Health NZ OIA response HNZ00078616, 5 June 2025
In other words: for most resident doctors, "locuming" in the public system means a casual employment agreement with Health NZ, paid at or above the table above — not an agency contract.
Asked by RNZ in July 2025, Health NZ gave these ranges for its locum spend:
Junior doctors $55–$130 an hour
Senior doctors $1,500–$3,000 a day
Not agreement rates. Health NZ told RNZ it cannot break the figures down by specialty. Source: RNZ, 3 July 2025.
$186m 2023
$209m 2024
$216m 2025
Source: NZ Herald, 3 May 2026, citing Health NZ figures.
The ASMS agreement sets no locum rate. It excludes locums and fixed-term employees engaged for six months or less from continuing medical education entitlements, and sets a premium (double the Step 6 specialist hourly rate) for a permanent SMO covering an absent RMO — but a locum specialist's day rate is negotiated, not scheduled.
The only locum-adjacent figure the specialist agreement does set is the premium a permanent SMO gets for stepping in when an RMO is unexpectedly absent: Step 6 specialist salary ÷ 2,086 × 2, per hour — at today's rates $219 an hour. ASMS / Health NZ SECA 2026-2027, clauses 36.1(e) and 13.4
Source
Signed agreement, Health New Zealand · checked 3 September 2026
Signed agreement, Health New Zealand (searchable) · checked 18 September 2026 — Salary tables on pages 9 and 10 of the PDF checked against the page image digit for digit.
Health NZ OIA response HNZ00078616 · 5 June 2025
RNZ — locum spend and rate ranges · 3 July 2025
NZ Herald — locum costs hit $216m · 3 May 2026