Well South names new medical director
PUBLIC health academic Carol Atmore is the new medical director of Well South primary health network.
Dr Atmore replaces Stephen Graham, who stepped down from the role earlier this year to return to general practice, although he remains with Well South in an advisory role.
“This is a phenomenal time to be involved, to help make a contribution to the future design of the health system in Aotearoa,” Dr Atmore, also a working GP, said.
The head of the department of general practice and rural health at the Dunedin School of Medicine, Dr Atmore is the former chief medical officer of the West Coast District Health Board.
She has a longstanding interest in the issues involved in providing healthcare for people living in remote areas, one reason why the Well South role appealed.
“I’m very excited about the potential for change. I think Well South will have an important role to play and I want to be a part of it.”
The Government recently announced a huge shakeup for how health care provision is administered in New Zealand, which included scrapping district health boards and their replacement with centralised procurement agencies — Health New Zealand and the Maori Health Authority — and regional locality networks.
Well South has quickly positioned itself as already having much of the framework in place to possibly move into a locality network role.
Dr Atmore, who has written several academic articles calling for health system reform, said that Health Minister Andrew Little’s plans were transformational.
“This is the best opportunity in the last 20 years to improve the health system in New Zealand,’’ she said.
Well South chairman Doug Hill said he had worked with Dr Atmore many times and could not be more pleased that she was joining Well South.
‘‘ I look forward to working with her . . . particularly as we work with other agencies to formulate locality networks in Southern.”
Dr Atmore takes up her new role in July.