{"id":22156,"date":"2026-08-11T14:05:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T02:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medtechglobal.com\/nz\/?p=22156"},"modified":"2026-08-25T16:36:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T04:36:43","slug":"gp-of-the-year-finalist-genevieve-matthews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medtechglobal.com\/nz\/gp-of-the-year-finalist-genevieve-matthews\/","title":{"rendered":"Medtech Global GP of the Year finalist Genevieve Matthews\u202f"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Looking after herself keeps GP of the Year finalist Genevieve Matthews\u202fgoing<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\nAuthor Alan Perrott<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people describe me as very driven \u2013 to my detriment sometimes,\u201d says specialist GP Genevieve Matthews.<\/p>\n

But this isn\u2019t to say she\u2019s on a one-way road to burnout. This 2026 New Zealand Primary Healthcare Awards | He Tohu Mauri Ora Medtech Global GP of the Year finalist is also careful to protect her wellbeing and direct her energies to where she feels most valuable.<\/p>\n

A stay in hospital as a young girl provided a valuable lesson. \u201cI remember they didn\u2019t really talk to me; it was very impersonal. I thought if I was a doctor, I would want to approach things differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

An afternoon spent with a rural GP in England during a nannying gap year left a positive impression. Still, Dr Matthews admits to being \u201cslightly underwhelmed\u201d by her early exposure to practising medicine in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

The relentless churn, rigid structures and shift work of the hospital system also clashed with the life she saw for herself. Newly married, Dr Matthews wanted a future with a family, plenty of time outdoors and just enough minor surgery to keep her hand in.<\/p>\n

General practice it was then. But where?<\/p>\n

She had met her husband while working in Rotorua, but had grown up in Christchurch, so with preschoolers in tow, the couple spent an \u201cadult gap year\u201d exploring the South Island in 2013, with each road trip bookended by locum work.<\/p>\n

\"Genevieve<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Medtech Global GP of the Year finalist Genevieve Matthews takes time out \u2013 with Gus, the good boy they (almost) timeshare with their neighbours [Image: Supplied]<\/p>\n

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Finding her fit<\/h3>\n
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\u201cIf I can change something so that it is slightly better, I can keep going\u201d<\/p>\n

After returning to the Bay of Plenty, Dr Matthews started working at Ngongotah\u0101 Medical Centre, where she had trained as a registrar in 2007. She found it such a perfect fit that she became a co-owner in 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing back, I realised how very strong our connections as GPs are here. That was a really cool thing to realise; we have such a great network, and that includes connections with our secondary colleagues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Self-care has always been a priority and has sometimes steered her career in new directions, \u201cjust to shift the balance a bit\u201d, Dr Matthews says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year, I\u2019ve been doing more governance (she is chair of Rotorua Area Primary Health Services PHO) and education. I guess it\u2019s stage-of-life and about staying well in myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about looking after myself and being fulfilled, but also being well-balanced; how I can remain valuable? So, when I dropped back on clinical medicine, I could still be valuable in other ways.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Passing it on<\/h3>\n
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Dr Matthews continues to find huge reward in medical education.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have amazing young doctors coming through. Sometimes I think I don\u2019t know if I\u2019d get into medical school these days. You look at the calibre of these young people \u2013 wow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her own registrar years taught her the value of mentors, so she does her utmost to pass on the lessons offered to her; the values, the realities of general practice and the autonomy to develop the workplace culture and environment you want.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always on the lookout for solutions. I\u2019ve never been one for looking at the state of the health system and going, \u2018Oh look, it\u2019s all hopeless.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI look for things I can immediately influence; what is the stuff I can change and what is the stuff I can\u2019t change?<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I can change something even so that it is slightly better, I can keep going. If I can\u2019t, well, then I try to look at it in a different way. That\u2019s the only way I stay \u2013 that and realising I work with great people who every day do good things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Accepting the nomination for Medtech Global GP of the Year required some thought.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did have to have a think; it\u2019s not something that\u2019s normally in my comfort zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside work, Dr Matthews enjoys the outdoors and sometimes looks after her neighbour\u2019s dog, Gus.<\/p>\n

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The New Zealand Primary Healthcare Awards | He Tohu Mauri Ora will be presented on 17 October at a gala ceremony in Auckland. More information can be found\u202f<\/i>here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.\u202f\u202f<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Published by NZ Doctor<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Link to the original article here: Looking after herself keeps GP of the Year finalist Genevieve Matthews going | New Zealand Doctor<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Looking after herself keeps GP of the Year finalist Genevieve Matthews\u202fgoing Author Alan Perrott \u201cSome people describe me as very driven \u2013 to my detriment sometimes,\u201d says specialist GP Genevieve Matthews. But this isn\u2019t to say she\u2019s on a one-way road to burnout. This 2026 New Zealand Primary Healthcare Awards | He Tohu Mauri Ora […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":22159,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_angie_page":false,"content-type":"","page_builder":"","footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1,52],"tags":[115,113,114],"class_list":["post-22156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-sponsorships","tag-finalist","tag-gp-of-the-year-2026","tag-medtech-gp-of-the-year-2026"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medtechglobal.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medtechglobal.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medtechglobal.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medtechglobal.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medtechglobal.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22156"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/medtechglobal.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22198,"href":"https:\/\/medtechglobal.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22156\/revisions\/22198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medtechglobal.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medtechglobal.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medtechglobal.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medtechglobal.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}