20 reasons why you should subscribe to New Zealand Doctor

We are the only source of independent, quality journalism about current events in primary care.

New Zealand Doctor | Rata Aotearoa has survived the test of time to become the only source of news and current affairs for general practice, primary care and key aspects of the wider health sector. We employ experienced journalists and clinical editors with an understanding of the nuances of the primary care sector and of how government policy affects the professional and business lives of GPs, NPs and other primary care professionals.

We are 100 per cent Kiwi owned.

Back in 2015, the global owners of MIMS NZ Ltd, publishers of New Zealand Doctor|Rata Aotearoa, were looking to sell the company's publishing assets. Anna Mickell had been working for the company a decade earlier. So Anna and New Zealand Doctor editor Barbara Fountain (that's me, folks) set up The Health Media to purchase those publishing assets - New Zealand Doctor, Pharmacy Today | Kaitiaki Rongoā O Te Wā, Doctor@Large, Pharmacy Today email newsletter, Everybody Patient Sheets and the Healthcare Handbook. Since 2015, they have added ELearning and The Roster Te Rārangi. Early this year, The Health Media launched the New Zealand Primary Healthcare Awards | He Tohu Mauri Ora and next up are The Popcorn Panels.

Kiwi owned and fuelled by Kiwi ingenuity, that's us.

We may be based in Auckland, but our heart lies in all of Aotearoa New Zealand

Our reporters work hard to ensure coverage on primary care across the country because we know everyone is interested in what is happening over the fence. Down south, Fiona Cassie is our southern correspondent based in Christchurch. Working from Auckland, our reporters cover the rest of the country with regular road trips to keep up to date with what’s happening north and south of the Bombay Hills.

We’re a little bit retro and you can choose a newspaper as part of your subscription package

A fortnightly newspaper, daily Doctor@Large, ELearning and a great mobile website - New Zealand Doctor is the full news package. Follow our Twitter feed to keep up to date with our news offerings. And you can keep track of people moving about the health system with our free news service The Roster Te Rarangi. What more could you ask for!

We have a really great team, you just need to take a look at our journalists for a start

I mean where do I start? There’s Zahra Shahtahmasebi, our website wrangler who loves rugby and running; Martin Johnston a health reporter so veteran he knows his DHBs from his CHE; Alan Perrott who enjoys a good profile and when he’s not working his keyboard is spinning records; Simon Maude the HIT man (that’s health IT) who loves shooting photos; southern lassie Fiona Cassie, world famous in the nursing community; chief “pat-on-backer” subeditor and roster rouser Virginia McMillan; Ruth Brown the deputy editor who crosses the clinical divide to edit Pharmacy Today; and myself, the occasional writer and chief organiser. Read more about each of us here

You’ll want to take a look at our archives

Yes, there’s no doubt about it, our print and online archives are treasure troves of news about general practice and primary care.

What better way to avoid repeating the problems of the past than by checking out our archives - stored online our website in The Vault - to find out what went wrong and what went well last time round.

Our archive partner, The Knowledge Basket, holds print records back to 1996 (and the online records of our last website incarnation).

Our website nzdoctor.co.nz has an archive searchable by keywords and tags. We also have an extensive Document Archive with a wide ranging of supporting documents for our news coverage. (Image: Jason Dent on Unsplash)

We have a hard-working sales team who will help you with your classified advertising - and more

If you want to buy or sell a practice, find a locum or simply advertise your holiday home, our free classifieds are the place for you – free for subscribers, that is. And for the bigger jobs, our sales team provide advice on display advertising and hosted content. They'll help our find the best way to advertise your products and services to our primary care readers

We provide a platform where people with an interest in primary care can showcase their ideas and achievements

Not only do New Zealand Doctor reporters hunt out interesting developments in general practice and primary care services, we also invite everyone to enter the annual New Zealand Primary Healthcare Awards|He Tohu Mauri Ora, a gala event where celebrating the work of primary care services around the country. Everyone's there!

Because it’s a place where you can finally have all those annoying organisational acronyms explained and used in actual sentences.

We take the hard work out of PSAAP, MSO, PPP, SIA, SLM…you get the picture. The New Zealand Doctor|Rata Aotearoa team knows it PHO (primary health organisation) from its Pho (Vietnamese soup) and we try and keep the acronyms to a minimum, interpreting official documents so you don’t have to.

We provide you with free online learning part of your subscription

Our ELearning online learning service has a large library of Practice and How to Treat articles. It provides a free, easy-to-access option to grow your CPD points – be you a GP, nurse practitioner or nurse. Clinically speaking, it’s a cracker!

Because we care even more when things go right

We’ve been writing about the machinations in the health sector for over 30 years now. We think what we do is important, and we are looking out for the stories that show what’s working for our readers and the patients, staff, friends and colleagues they work with. We like the good news along with the challenging.

Because we understand that equity issues are not only real, they are complex

We do not have the inclination or patience to engage in debates about “wokeness” or “preferential treatment,” reaching a state of genuine equity must be the ultimate aim for any system that takes the concept of health seriously. Access is not equal, provision is not equal, and outcomes are not equal. We know this is important and from our conversations with GPs and allied practitioners, we know it is central to the way you approach your work.

Because we are fab to look at

We work hard to create a newspaper that looks great because we want to do credit to the stories of folk working in general practice and primary care.

We are on to it, clinically speaking

Our clinical editor Amy van der Loo works hard to stay on top of what's happening on the clinical frontline for GPs and practice nurses. Our team of contributors are enthusiastic about primary care and provided a regular flow of timely clinical updates in a wide range of disciplines

Because you’ll get to learn the other five reasons…and more, why you should subscribe to New Zealand Doctor|Rata Aotearoa

Sorry folks, it’s the end of the line. Tomorrow your free online subscription comes to an end and I don’t get to give you those 20 reasons. Apologies for that. I was diverted into The Popcorn Panels, which were a lot of fun. But, I assure you, if you go ahead and subscribe you will see for yourself what a great package of news and education we produce – daily news online, a daily email newsletter Doctor@Large, a fortnightly newspaper and free access to our ELearning platform. And if you can send us your own jolly good reason for subscribing and we publish it, we’ll send you a Toblerone, the current prize of choice within our editorial team (Email me at editor@nzdoctor.co.nz). Did I mention we are a sweet-hearted bunch? Okay, enough of my shillyshallying. We understand the commitment and devotion demanded of people for whom medicine is more than a job and for whom the health system is more than a building. Because we love what we do.

Please subscribe.