doctorpay New Zealand doctor pay, from the agreements — not the agencies

Pay / House officer

House officer pay in New Zealand

The first grade after graduation — PGY1, PGY2 and PGY3. Paid on a three-year grid where the column is your run's expected weekly hours and the row is your year.

$80,882Year 1, category F40–44.9 hours a week
$115,703Year 1, category C55–59.9 hours a week
$145,727Year 1, category A65+ hours a week
$162,381Year 3, category Atop of the house officer grid

Which table is yours

Both unions cover house officers at Health New Zealand, on their own scales. It depends on the union you belong to, not the hospital.

NZRDA
$80,882 – $162,381

RDA (NZRDA) CA 2026-2028

Years 1–3, categories A–F. $80,882 to $162,381.

Open →
STONZ
$84,040 – $169,822

STONZ RMO CA 2026-2028

Steps 1–3, categories A–F. $84,040 to $169,822.

Open →

NZRDA vs STONZ, category C, year by year

Category C — an expected 55 to 59.9 hours a week — is a common house officer run. Rates in effect today.

NZRDA 2026–2028STONZ 2026–2028
Year 1$115,703$121,124Year 2Year 3$128,693$134,214

Every category compared →

What decides your number

  • Your run category. Set by the expected average weekly hours in the run description. Full rotating shifts get a minimum of two categories above what the hours alone would give; ED and ICU runs are at least category C. How categories work →
  • Your year. Placed on the House Officer scale by years of post-graduate service as an RMO. Advances on the anniversary of appointment. cl. 8.5.1
  • Relief runs. Relievers are paid two categories above the majority of runs they cover; above category A the balance is paid as year steps or a fixed sum. cl. 8.1.3–8.1.4

On top of base

Additional duties (extra shifts): $60/hr day, $90/hr night for a house officer; $75/$115 for a senior house officer.

Rural hospital allowance 5% of base at 19 named hospitals.

Superannuation matched dollar for dollar up to 6%.

Protected teaching time 3 hours a week.

All allowances →

Source

Signed agreement, Health New Zealand · checked 3 September 2026

Online version published by NZRDA · checked 3 September 2026 — Salary tables agree digit-for-digit with the signed scan's OCR layer and with page images of pages 13, 14 and 16 of the signed PDF.

Agreement published by Health New Zealand · checked 3 September 2026