Dr. Ian Gourlay with his Postgraduate Diploma in Occupational Medicine

Congratulations to Dr. Gourlay who has just graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Occupational Medicine from the University of Otago continuing the Tarawera Medical Centre tradition of continued learning and expansion of the services and expertise beyond basic General Practice that we offer to our patients. Ian has had a long interest in Occupational Medicine since his days with British Rail and since taking on the occupational medicine duties at Norske Skog Tasman he has continued his studies in this field. Ian has found that the skills learned transfer to a lot of problems presented in GP consultations and have helped him better manage problems for his patients.

Louisa joins Aidan Williams as our second doctor to have completed both the UK and NZ specialist GP assessments. She obtained her MRCGP in the UK and at the end of 2014 completed the the NZ assessment for the FRNZCGP. She received her results early this year and passed easily on the first attempt as Aidan did. The assessment involves a practice visit and passing requires the doctor to be practicing at a high standard in a practice that provides an environment for high quality practice so is an assessment of both doctor and practice. Louisa has worked with us for a number of years now and we are well aware of the quality of her work so it is nice to have this recognised by the College as well.

Dr. Louisa Barter

Best wishes to everyone for a safe and happy Christmas, New Year and summer holiday season.

A juvenile Blackbird like the ones just recently fledged from the nest at the surgery.

Tarawera Medical Centre will be open normal hours every day except for the statutory holidays (Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Years Day and 2 Jan). For those patients needing repeat scripts before going away a reminder that email script requests need to be sent the day before you need them so Tuesday of the next two weeks will be the last day to send email requests if you need them before the holiday. Urgent script requests that are needed the same day will need to be phoned through to reception as usual.

Walk-in clinics as usual 8-11:30 every morning. From next year we will be expanding the Friday afternoon walk-in clinic to more afternoons from 4:30 as a lot of patients have been dropping in at this time slot already.

Have fun, stay safe and don’t forget the sunscreen.

Aidan with his FRNZCGP certificate and MRCGP certificate on the wall

Aidan completed his GP training in the UK achieving the qualification MRCGP in 2011. Since moving to New Zealand and joining the Tarawera Medical Centre he has completed the New Zealand College requirements to gain Fellowship of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (FRNZCGP) which is the New Zealand equivalent qualification. He is our first doctor to hold the dual qualifications but will shortly be followed by Dr. Louisa Barter who is about to complete her final assessment.