Search New Zealand doctors
search_doctorsFree short list of New Zealand doctors for a need; use it first whenever the person needs a doctor or specialist in New Zealand. Give at least one of need, specialty, place or name. need = a condition, procedure or focus in plain English (e.g. 'ACL reconstruction', 'endometriosis', 'skin cancer', 'cataract surgery'); it is matched against the focus areas doctors list first, then the procedures their services list, their specialty, and their own profile text (not shown here). specialty = a name from list_specialties, a word from one (e.g. 'orthopaedic', 'ENT') or a plain word (e.g. 'eye', 'skin', 'heart'); matched word by word (word endings may differ, e.g. 'cardiologist', 'paediatrician'; not fragments inside words), and the reply's specialty_read_as lists the specialty names used. place = a New Zealand city, suburb, or region or Health NZ district (e.g. 'Christchurch', 'North Shore', 'Hawke's Bay', 'Hutt Valley'); when a town search leaves out doctors listed only on the wider region's page or in its other towns, place_note says how many and which place to use instead. Each result: doctor_id, name, specialties, vocational scope, cities, sectors (private, public), match_basis (with a need: stated_focus, services_listed (the doctor's own or a small practice's service page), shared_service_listed (a hospital department or large group page they are linked to, so not necessarily done by this doctor), specialty, specialty_for_symptom (the need is a symptom few doctors list, and their specialty usually sees it; need_note says which specialties), profile_text or partial), place_match (with a place: city_or_address, city_in_region, address_contains or region_page_only), warnings (e.g. not practising on the Medical Council register), specialist_since (year first on the Medical Council vocational, i.e. specialist, register in New Zealand), recognition (New Zealand honours, University of Auckland title), listing (medical_council_register_only when the doctor has no clinic listing here), possibly_same_person_as (another entry with the same name that may be the same doctor) and detail_has (what get_doctor adds). General practitioners are left out unless specialty is general practice (e.g. 'GP') or a name is given; to find a GP clinic use search_gp_practices. Doctors only on the register are included when practising with a specialist scope (any status with a name). Results are ranked first by how directly the doctor's own listing matches the need (doctors who list all its words; then, when the need is a symptom such as back pain, doctors whose specialty usually sees it; then doctors who list some of the words; then words only in profile text), then by place_match (with a place); with experienced_first, longer as a specialist next. Doctors known only from the Medical Council register (no clinic listing) come after all others. Not ranked by quality or outcomes. Then call get_doctor with the doctor_ids you are considering. Up to 10 results per search and paging stops at 30: narrow the need or the place instead of paging.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| name | No | Doctor's name or part of it, to check a named doctor. | |
| need | No | Condition, procedure or focus, plain English. | |
| child | No | True when the patient is a child: among doctors in the same place who match the need equally well, those in paediatrics or who list children in their focus come first, then those whose services say they see children; doctors whose services list only adult ages are left out. Most listings do not say, so those doctors stay in. | |
| limit | No | Default 10. | |
| place | No | New Zealand city, suburb, or region or Health NZ district (e.g. 'Waikato', 'Hawke's Bay', 'Capital and Coast'). | |
| gender | No | Only when the person asks. Gender is recorded for only a small share of doctors (when their Healthpoint page states it); doctors without it are left out and gender_note says how many. | |
| offset | No | For paging (at most 20, so 30 results in all: narrow the search instead). | |
| sector | No | private = the doctor lists a private service; public = a public (Health NZ) service. Default any. | |
| language | No | Language other than English the doctor, or a small clinic (3 doctors or fewer) they work in, lists, e.g. 'Mandarin', 'Hindi', 'Samoan'. | |
| specialty | No | Specialty name, a word from one, or a plain word like 'eye' (see list_specialties). | |
| experienced_first | No | True when the person wants an experienced or senior doctor: among doctors who match equally well, those longer on the New Zealand specialist (vocational) register come first. Time on the register is not quality, and doctors who trained overseas may have practised longer than it shows. | |
| southern_cross_affiliated | No | True keeps doctors whose own Healthpoint page or at least one of whose service pages says Southern Cross Affiliated Provider (cover still depends on the policy and often prior approval; confirm). |