Tuparehuia

For her GP placement, Emma asked to go to Northland. She's on the road with rural doctor Kyle Eggleton, whose weekly clinic is in the remote outpost of Tuparehuia.

Emma went to Northland for her GP placement in order to work alongside Dr Kyle Eggleton. He describes what's involved in working as a doctor for a Māori health provider.

By Dr Kyle Eggleton

I am a general practitioner, but I am not a general practitioner, I am not allowed to be. It is a bit confusing trying to explain this contradiction to patients. I end up saying that the contract that I work under doesn't fund full general practice services. Patients still don't understand this and when they are asked who their GP is, they say that it is me. I don't argue with this pronouncement, but do feel that my profession is something else, something undefined in Pākehā words.

For a start I don't think that the work that I do is typical general practice work. I don't have a single clinic, but work in a different place every day. It might be a freezing room bolted to the outside of a community hall, or a rural first aid post where faded handwritten posters lists the telephone numbers of volunteers, or it could be in the back of a van where patients and I perform an elaborate dance negotiating the plinth and desk bolted to the floor. Despite the diversity in location the clinics are bound together in the amazing beauty of their surroundings, the warmth and community spirit of the patients that attend them and the whakapapa links to Ngātiwai.

There are other things that make the work I do less typical of general practice. My standard consultation is 20 minutes, a little longer than the 15 minutes I used to do when I worked in my own practice. Partially the longer times reflect the need to unpack the complexities in a patient's life. Psychological, social and economic issues are intertwined with the biological and are often best dealt with a whānau ora approach and the expertise of other colleagues. On other days I feel like I am an agnostic minister of religion as I tease out spiritual influences that cause a patient's mouth to quiver and their eyes to dull. I often can't solve these problems, but asking and knowing sometimes helps a patient to find solutions themselves. These intertwined aspects of a person is more than health, it relates to wellness…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details