Simon Bridges National MP simonbridges.co.nz

Something tells me it is conference season in New Zealand. In the last couple of weeks, I have spoken to three great conferences locally – all of which have been held at the Sebel Hotel.

The first was the NZ Drilling Association Conference and the second was the Post Anaesthesia Nurses Conference. Last, but not least, was the Inbound Tour Operators of New Zealand conference. Anecdotally it seems to me Tauranga is on the national conference circuit more than ever before. As the city's venue capacity grows, I'm sure this trend will only continue. I also attended the National Party's 75th annual conference last weekend in Wellington.

Keeping our doctors, nurses, and midwives in New Zealand

Speaking of nurses, together with doctors and midwives, they are the face of our health system. They're also the backbone of many of the health services we all need throughout our lives.

When National came into government, New Zealand was desperately short of doctors, nurses, and midwives. Many of our best and brightest medical professionals were leaving New Zealand.

That's why, in our first year National introduced a voluntary bonding scheme for medical graduates trained here. The scheme rewards graduate doctors, nurses and midwives who commit to working in hard-to-staff communities and specialties for three to five years with payments against their student loans. Those without student loans will receive cash payments.

The scheme has been really popular. In the first year, we expected up to 100 doctors and a combined 250 midwives and nurses to apply. We accepted 115 doctors, 683 nurses and 95 midwives – nearly 900 medical graduates – choosing to stay in New Zealand and work in areas of greatest need.

We have just closed the third intake and there are now 1424 nurses, 220 doctors and 179 midwives signed up to the scheme throughout the country. That is more than 1800 doctors, nurses and midwives planning to stay in New Zealand for at least three years to give you and your family the care and service you need.

Research shows the longer new graduates stay and work in a community, the more likely they are to continue working there. Our scheme gives them the opportunity to settle into communities and gain valuable experience in their fields – and shows many of our medical graduates are keen to stay in New Zealand.

There are currently 12 District Health Boards and hospitals in the hard-to-staff regions for doctors and 12 DHBs in the hard-to-staff regions for midwives.

Here in the Bay of Plenty region, we've had 20 nurses indicate they want to come and work within the Bay of Plenty DHB at the Whakatane Hospital.

The scheme's ongoing popularity shows we are meeting the goal of encouraging New Zealand-trained health professionals to establish careers at home.

Having more doctors, nurses and midwives can make a real difference to the care you and your family receive. The voluntary bonding scheme is just part of National's commitment to growing and protecting our public health services.