Member Stories
Mark Ashburner, Medical Physicist
"If there’s one thing I love more than anything, it’s arguing for my colleagues to get the best and fairest outcome."
Medical Physicists
Medical physicists began joining APEX in 2002, and since 2011 have had a National Collective Agreement. Today, almost all physicists employed by Health New Zealand are APEX members.
What Medical Physicists Do
Medical Physicists are, at their core, physicists applying advanced principles of physics, computing, and data science to ensure the safe and effective use of technology in healthcare. Our profession forms the backbone of technological innovation in modern medicine—advancing artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance and quantum computing, and automation in clinical systems. Historically, physicists have driven many of the world’s major technological advancements, and medical physicists continue that legacy within healthcare environments.
We perform all tests and calibration to ensure medical imaging equipment and linear accelerators (radiation therapy treatment machines) operate correctly and safely for clinical use, including verifying radiation output, beam geometry, treatment planning models and ensuring all components are within precise limits for cancer treatment.
View the Collective agreement
About Our Collective Agreement
Our collective agreement is tailored to this small but vital workforce. It sets out minimum rates of pay and progression rules for physicists, including senior, principal and chief physicists.
The collective agreement also specifies:
-
Hours of work and rostering provisions -
Registrar salaries and promotion to physicist provisions -
Associate Physicist conditions and salaries -
Overtime and penal rates -
On call and call back provisions -
Reimbursement of College, indemnity and licence fees -
Continuing Professional Development leave and funding -
Annual, long service, and shift and on call leave -
Parental leave, including a parental leave top-up -
Sick, bereavement and family violence leave -
Consultation and redundancy protections -
Retiring gratuities by district
Why This Work Matters
Because of the size of the workforce, small numbers of vacancies can have a significant impact on workloads.
As radiation oncology expands to Taranaki, Whangārei and beyond, and as targets for “faster cancer treatment” increase patient volumes, APEX continues to work to ensure we maintain the highest standards of employment conditions for physicists.
Medical Physicists Delegates
Contact Your Medical Physicist Advocate
Use the form to send a message to your advocate, or contact them using the details below.