New Zealand Doctor

21/12/2025

Innovators across primary care are using technology to open doors and remove barriers 💻📱 Whether it’s improving accuracy, speeding up processes or reaching communities in new ways, this is your moment to share the difference you’ve made.

If your initiative has made a real impact – big or small – enter the Excellence in Information Technology or Telehealth category. Or nominate someone whose innovation is changing the game for patients and providers.

Start your entry today: https://nzphawards.awardsplatform.com/

This award category is proudly sponsored by Spark Health

Explore all categories and criteria at nzphawards.co.nz

08/12/2025

Big news for 2026! 🎉
We’re thrilled to introduce two brand-new award categories in next year’s line-up:

🏆 Health Improvement Practitioner (HIP) of the Year
🏆 Rural General Practice of the Year

And that’s not all – we’ve made a small but meaningful update to one of our existing categories to better recognise the incredible work of administrators.
Practice or Business Manager of the Year is now Practice Manager or Administrator of the Year 💼✨

Explore all categories and criteria at nzphawards.co.nz

05/12/2025

🎉 Exciting news! Entries for the 2026 New Zealand Primary Healthcare Awards | He Tohu Mauri Ora are officially OPEN!

✨ It’s your time to shine ✨

Why enter?

⭐ Showcase your mahi – your team’s hard work deserves the spotlight
⭐ Strengthen your reputation for innovation and excellence
⭐ Connect with top professionals, organisations, and decision-makers in primary care
⭐ Celebrate the positive impact you’re making for whānau and communities

If you’ve been waiting for a sign… this is it. 🌟 It’s your time to shine!

Check out nzphawards.co.nz for all categories and criteria.

03/12/2025

Educate Revisited takes another look at some recent articles published online and in print.

Learn more about bones and joints here: https://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/article/news/educate-revisited-bones-and-joints

03/12/2025

Tenths and sessions – they are the measures some practices use to determine how many patients they can care for. Others talk of ratios, while others say very little. So, how many patients is the “right” number to have? https://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/article/news/hunting-elusive-golden-ratio-general-practice

03/12/2025

Does anyone get PTSD just looking at this image?

BEST OF LUCK TO OUR GPEP REGISTRARS 📝
Today, 220 of our 2025 GPEP cohort are sitting their written exams, an important milestone on the path to becoming specialist GPs and the future of general practice in Aotearoa.

These exams are a major undertaking not only for our registrars, but also for the College teams who travel across the motu to set up and support each exam venue. From logistics and coordination to ensuring everything runs smoothly on the day, our staff play a vital role in making this process possible.

To our registrars: You’ve put in the mahi and we’re right behind you. Kia kaha, take a deep breath and trust your preparation.

Ngā mihi nui and best of luck, we’re cheering you on every step of the way!

01/12/2025

The results are in! The Sizzling Summer Survey, a wrap-it-all-up, year-end evaluation covering 20 questions, was sent to subscribers of our email newsletter, Daily Triage, last month.

Deputy editor Patrice Dougan delves into the answers to see what they reveal about general practice in 2025 https://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/article/news/primary-care-squeeze-burnout-steady-ai-booms-patience-thins

19/11/2025

The waiting time for children’s appointments is deterring yet more people from seeking GP care, according to the latest survey data collected by the Government https://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/article/news/long-gp-wait-times-keep-record-numbers-children-care

18/11/2025

New research suggests New Zealand might survive the apocalypse, only to discover we can’t make paracetamol https://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/article/news/surviving-doomsday-may-just-be-start-our-problems-nzmj

17/11/2025

Some community health services will close or be severely cut back if $100 million in Care Plus funding is shifted into the capitation reweighting pool, PHO leaders fear https://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/article/news/services-risk-if-care-plus-funding-dolloped-reweighting-bucket-pho-leaders-fear

12/11/2025

Every WellSouth specialist GP is to get $4000 a year for professional development, the PHO’s departing chair, specialist GP Doug Hill, announced at Tuesday’s annual general meeting https://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/article/news/pho-chairs-swansong-sees-wellsouth-gps-get-individual-4000-training-fund

11/11/2025

Team 'Pap Smears', from Papanui Medical Centre, snatched the title of Christchurch’s top medical centre quizzers from inaugural winners Barrington Medical Centre last night https://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/article/news/papanui-pap-smears-clean-christchurchs-medical-centre-quiz-night