21st WONCA World Rural Health Conference, 10-13 April 2026: Read More – WONCA 2026 | Home
We advocate for, promote, maintain, and support the critical components of Rural General Practice teams including:
We provide and sustain a sense of connectivity across Rural General Practice teams and their families, that enables peer-to-peer and pastoral support for members and their families. Our Chapter provides rurally focused clinical expertise and advice to Hauora Taiwhenua Management, Council and other Chapters in matters of both organisational and government policies and their implementation.
We support the National PRIME Committee and our members who represent the interests of all PRIME providers on the committee by collaborating with rural communities and wider rural provider-associated organisations including other Chapters of Hauora Taiwhenua, to achieve rurally focused and researched health and wellbeing outcomes.
This is the second year Hauora Taiwhenua has conducted a survey of Rural General Practices to quantify and better understand their current operational status, issues and morale. Our goal is to develop a repository of sector-informed data that monitors key indicators vital to rural general practice and track changes to them over time.
Building on insights from our first survey last year, we refined our methodology for collecting and analysing response data this year. This refinement enhances our ability to produce multi-year data and enable comparisons between rural general practice indicators and urban or national data produced by other organisations.
Consequently, in this second year, we have included only a few indicators showing results from both surveys. We are optimistic that with high response rates, support from Health NZ in providing system-level data, and the University of Otago’s Geographic Classification for Health (GCH), the range of indicators that we can report on a multi-year basis will expand.
This year’s survey achieved a 54% response rate, with 103 out of 190 rural general practices classified as ‘rural’ under the Primary Health Organisation Service Agreement (PHOSA) participating. Survey respondents proportionally represent the GCH R1-R3 areas, mirroring the population distribution in each category. Collectively, their registered patients account for 46% of the rural population.
Where applicable, survey results have been extrapolated to provide an indication of the national perspective.
Dr Robin Baird is a rural GP working in Te Kauwhata, North Waikato. Born and raised in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Dr Baird trained in Edinburgh and Scottish Borders. He has been in New Zealand now for 10 years. He enjoys the professional range afforded by rural practice (clinics in aged-care centre, college, corrections facility) and the opportunity to collaborate with other providers to deliver quality health service. He works with Pinnacle PHO in a GP leader role and volunteers on Board of local Community House. His interests include clinical governance, lifestyle medicine, food, tramping, travel and bridge. He appreciates the sense of welcome he has had arriving in Aotearoa and is excited at the opportunity to lend some support to rural general practice.
I am originally from the UK. Born in London but then moved to Lincolnshire which is one of the largest counties in England and very rural. I previously worked in the NHS for 10 years as Head of Screening Services in Lincolnshire. We focused on taking the screening services to the community via mobile clinics, to decrease barriers which was successful, my particular interest was diabetic retinopathy, where I arbitrated clinical outcomes and oversaw the screening service of 50,000 patients.
This brought a greater understanding of rural needs and the possible barriers to various services (primary and secondary), which in turn led to working with public health, commissioners, and communities to improved access and outcomes for those patients. My particular interest is still diabetic retinopathy and if we can improve this service in NZ then that would be amazing.
However, I am now a Practice Relationship Manager for Pegasus Charitable Health in Christchurch, and I support general practice (urban and rural) in a variety of ways, but with a strong focus on rural health.
I am married to Michelle who was a Midwife but now works for Blind Low Vision. We have two children, one in NZ and one still in the UK. I have lived in New Zealand since 2017, Rotorua is where we first settled, we then moved to Christchurch in 2021 after a holiday on the South Island where I intend to stay and continue to enjoy the stunning natural beauty.
I also have a French Bulldog which is my favourite child.
Currently working in Southland as a Nurse Practitioner in Otautau and Riverton (Aparima). Living in Pahia near the south-coast of sunny Southland. Member of RNNZ since establishment in 2017.
My name is Gemma Hutton, I am a Nurse Practitioner in Twizel and continue to provide Telehealth/Locum support for the West Coast which was the area where I started my rural journey.
The majority of my career has been in rural health. I was a former board member of RGPN and I remain involved in advocating for rural health within my local area.
Dr Grahame Jelley is the former Northern North Island representative on the New Zealand Rural General Practice Network Board.
Having completed my secondary education in Zimbabwe, I qualified from the University of Cape Town in South Africa in 1983. I have worked as a Rural Practitioner for 30 years in mission hospital service, regional rural hospital service in South Africa, large corporate medical services and in solo general practice in Zimbabwe. Arriving in New Zealand in 2000 as a DHB employed General Practitioner in Westport, the Bay of Plenty in 2004 and Kerikeri Northland since 2014. I have served as a volunteer GP in the Cook Islands at Aitutaki Base Hospital. I have been actively involved with the Eastern Bay of Plenty PHO and Primary Health Alliance and subsequently te tai Tokerau PHO Board. I have more recently mixed my GP work with Clinical Advisor to Planning and Funding with the Bay of Plenty DHB, clinical Directore Te Tai Tokerau PHO and most recently clinical Advisor Mahitahi Hauora Primary Health Entity.
I am married to Renene a nurse and have two children Courtney and a son Brendan and more recently our first mokopuna Preston. I love sailing and other outdoor activities. I continue to enjoy the opportunities afforded to me through to contributing positively to the Board of the RGPN and the advocacy for wider rural General Practice teams and their communities.
Ko Taranaki toku maunga
Ko Hangatahua toku awa
Ko Kurahaupō toku waka
Ko Ngā Māhanga ko Ngāti Tairi toku iwi
Ko Poniho toku pa
No Rangiauria o Wharekauri ahau
Kei Timaru toku kainga inaianei
Ko Gregory-Hunt toku whanau
Ko Tania Kemp toku ingoa
I was born and grew up on Pitt Island, in the Chatham Islands. I have a strong affiliation with Ngati Mutunga o Wharekauri as Wharekauri remains turangawaiwai to me and my whanau remain there.
I am a Nurse Practitioner (Mātanga Tapuhi) and own the Pleasant Point Health Center. This was the first Nurse Practitioner owned and led General Practice in New Zealand. This is a Nurse Practitioner run Practice, with a commitment to growing our own. We have a constant flow of student nurses from undergrad to NP interns.
I have spent 30 years in General Practice, mostly in rural and remote communities, including Pitt Island, Wharekauri, South Island West Coast and for the past 12 years in South Canterbury.
I am the Deputy Chair of Te Aitarakihi Society Inc. A local Marae-a-iwi for Mata waka and all cultures within South Canterbury. Through this organisation I chair a Health and Well-being Committee, with the view of increasing health care for Māori in the region.
I was on the RGPN board for 6 years until 2018. I also served on the Nursing Council New Zealand, for two terms, finishing in Feb this year. I was asked to rejoin Te Rōpū Ārahi in the transitional phase of RGPN to Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Health. I am a council member also.
My drive is to influence policy and systems that enable genuine change and improvements to health outcomes for Māori, whanau, hapu and iwi in rural hapori whānui.
Michelle Meenagh is the Business Manager at Raglan Medical. Originally from Belfast in the North of Ireland, she worked as a Business Development Manager in the FMCG industry before moving to New Zealand in 2006. Michelle joined the Raglan Medical team in 2013 and enjoys the challenges and variety that practice management provides. She also serves as the co-ordinator for PMAANZ Waikato and volunteers as the secretary for Feed the Kids Incorporated Society.
Michelle’s passion lies in people and the power of strong, cohesive teams. She believes that well-developed primary care teams are fundamental to delivering equitable, accessible, and sustainable healthcare in Aotearoa. Her focus is on fostering collaboration, professional growth, and innovation within general practice. With a deep understanding of both the business and human sides of healthcare, Michelle is committed to building practice environments where leadership, education, and teamwork drive continuous improvement and better outcomes for patients and communities alike.
This is your opportunity to be part of a strong advocacy voice for Rural General Practice which is backed up by the entire rural team including rural communities and in partnership with Māori. We know that there are changes and challenges ahead, perhaps more now than ever before. Having been on NZRGPN Board for the last 12 years and still working as a rural GP I am well aware of these challenges. This is why I am excited that we have this opportunity. We know that our rural advocacy voice can never be strong enough on our own and also that Rural General Practice needs a specific focus on it in order to thrive. I believe being in this Chapter/Te Whare Taumata as part of Hauora Taiwhenua/Rural Health Network enables us to do this. Our advocacy has helped put “Rural” into the Pae Ora Healthy Futures Bill so that we will have a Rural Health Strategy for which there will be accountability. General Practice is a crucial part of this strategy, please join us to be part of how that develops so we can get great health outcomes for rural people in a sustainable way which values the workforce.
-Dr Fiona Bolden
The founding dozen GPs who came together as a group in Canterbury in 1987 for mutual support and to lobby various ministers of health about the paucity of rural services, conditions and funding to our respective communities, could never have imagined the extent of its evolution to Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Health Network.
The combined voices of NZ rural health communities, rural health providers and strong partnership with Maori is an exciting development, which presents our strongest united voice to Government. The first win is the last minute change of heart by Government, to recognize rural as an equity group and include a rural strategy into the new NZ health organisation. Fantastic achievement!
-Dr Janne Bills, East Otago Health
The formation of Te Whare Taumata Takutanga Taiwhenua ( Rural General Practice Chapter) and the wider Hauora Taiwhenua network creates the “One Voice” keeping the health and wellbeing of rural communities in the spotlight that we have wanted for years.
By collecting together general practice teams, other primary care providers, hospital services, communities and industry bodies to confidently address what matters to people and communities and affirm the importance of community based health teams to the vitality of provincial and rural Aotearoa New Zealand.
It’s so exciting to be part of this movement ! Join us !
-Dr Jo Scott-Jones, GP Opotiki, Pinnacle MHN Medical Director
“The Rural General Practice Network arose from the perceived need for rural General Practice advocacy and pastoral connection for rural General Practitioners and their families. From small beginnings, led by wise practitioners with significant future vision , the Network has grown significantly in its stature and its function over the last 30 years. As the active rural advocate and holder of the rural workforce support contracts from the Ministry the Rural General Practice Network has had the foresight again to move strategically into the future with its support and delivery of the Hauora Taiwhenua organisation. As a longstanding member of the Rural General Practice Network and more recently an active board member I have seen, first-hand, the value of strong and common voices when advocacy for the challenges of rural practice and community wellbeing are concerned. Strengthening the voice with interdisciplinary and strong community voices alongside rural General Practice will enable a rurally focused strategy for wellbeing to come to fruition.
Carrying forward the representation of General Practice membership of the Rural General Practice Network into Hauora Taiwhenua Te Whare Taumata Takutanga Taiwhenua (Rural General Practice Chapter) we will continue to honour the aspirations of those early pioneers who had the foresight to bring us together collegially. It is through learning from the steps taken by our Tupuna/forefathers that we safely navigate our present and future steps towards success.”
-Dr Grahame Jelley
