Jobs for Nurses in New Zealand : Jobs for Doctors in New Zealand

I am a General and Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon who trained in the UK and was based as a Consultant Surgeon in North West of England. My first contact with Accent came in the form of one of those random emails which popped up on my work email inbox last September.
I am a General and Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon who trained in the UK and was based as a Consultant Surgeon in North West of England. My first contact with Accent came in the form of one of those random emails which popped up on my work email inbox last September. I remember forwarding it my home email to look at it in my own time (partly because my work in the UK was extremely busy). It must have been past 11PM that night when I had a chance to really look at it carefully. I can remember discussing this with my husband and the conversation must have sounded a bit like - what do you think about NZ; should we consider moving there'

I replied to the email on a whim and I must admit I was very impressed how promptly Accent got back - we actually chatted on the phone that very night. This was the beginning of the process which suddenly snow-balled into this event at a surprisingly fast pace. Accent informed us about the EXPO in the UK later that year and we had the opportunity to meet up with a couple of hospital staff in November and Prudence from Accent in an informal interview in their hotel lobby in Leeds. They must have been so tired after a full day at the EXPO but both my husband and I were very grateful they could accommodate us over the weekend.

The rest as they say is history - the whole project (as we like to call it) took about 6 months which is pretty good going for a move of this scale. I arrived in NZ for my interview in February having never been to this country before. Whatever we saw was positive and although this job meant doing far less than I was trained and used to, I could see potential for developing the service. I suppose I'm always a sucker for a challenge.

The immigration department in London were a bit slow to get their act together but we accomplished a relatively painless move into NZ in June of this year and we haven't looked back.

Throughout the whole saga (form filling, medical tests, MCNZ applications etc) we were so well supported by Accent who helped on several occasions to expedite the process. They have a fantastic network in the Immigration dept, MCNZ and other related industry which helped smoothen the whole transition. Sometimes it was just for a chat and a morale boost and I must say they were very supportive.

This continued even after we arrived - I remember receiving a lovely hamper when we checked into our hotel after travelling for nearly 30 hours which had loads of goodies like tea bags, cookies and snacks apart from really important things like a mobile phone and the eBook. We were given unlimited access to their office for use of their computer, fax and phones during our first few weeks while we found a place to stay and settle into our new lives in Christchurch.

Moving house is stressful enough but moving continents and uprooting a stable lifestyle and plunging into the unknown is a leap of faith. We have been in NZ for just over 3 months and whilst most might criticize that this is early days, we have no regrets so far. We still keep in touch with the girls in Accent and have become good friends over these past months. I guess they have made what is normally a very frightening experience into a palatable process.

We have recommended Accent to some of my friends who are seriously considering coming over. They also share our views of the quality of service and on-hands approach we have experienced.
I would strongly recommend Accent to anyone who reads this Case Study and is considering a move to New Zealand.

Accent Case Studies:

Josie Todd - General Surgeon