Doctors: Patients lovely, ACC a challenge

Cornishman John Martin - known as Hone Matene to some locals - has been working at Otangarei's health clinic for about two months now. He says he loves it and would encourage more United Kingdom doctors to move to New Zealand. Photo / John Stone

An English GP working in Otangarei wants to encourage more UK doctors to come and live in Northland, something that would help alleviate the region's shortage.

Otangarei's Cornish doctor John Martin has been working at the local health clinic for two months now and is fitting in well - he's even called Hone by locals. Dr Martin moved from Cornwall to Whangarei in late September and started working at Te Hau Awhiowhio o Otangarei Trust - Hauora a week later. He has been there for just over two months now and said he would encourage more doctors in the United Kingdom to make the move to New Zealand.

"I just love it. My first day I had about 20 to 30 patients and they were lovely. The computer was horrible, the challenges were learning computer systems and ACC because we don't have that back home."

Working in Otangarei is the first time Dr Martin has worked overseas.

"I want to put an ad in the papers back home encouraging more doctors to come here," he said.

Dr Martin moved here knowing there were things he had to learn along the way and, with Otangarei's high Maori population, Maori culture was on the list.