New Year Honours 2024: Whangamatā Dr Michael Miller awarded ...

Dr Michael John Hugh Miller

Queen’s Service Medal for services to rural health

Whangamatā general practitioner Dr Michael John Hugh Miller has been awarded a Queen’s Service Medal (QSM) for services to rural health in the New Year’s Honours list.

Miller has been an advocate for improved health outcomes for patients living in rural communities, after coming to New Zealand 33 years ago.

He qualified in medicine from Middlesex Hospital in the UK and spent six years in the Royal Air Force and seven years in civilian practice in rural Essex.

After he arrived in New Zealand, Miller acquired Whangamatā Medical Centre and developed it into the town’s first purpose-built medical facility, which opened in 1995. His areas of special interest include musculoskeletal and sports medicine, ultrasound, dermatology, and emergency medicine.

Miller champions the use, in rural communities, of point-of-care ultrasound in primary care.

Along with establishing modern, integrated primary health care services at the Whangamatā practice, as clinical lead, he expanded and improved available community medical services. He has been a strong advocate for the provision of comprehensive 24/7 care and the training of medical students, postgraduate doctors and GP registrars in rural practice.

Whangamatā Community Health, a charitable trust, was founded by Miller in 2005. The trust raised funds for locally-delivered radiology and ultrasound services. Miller secured additional funding for after-hours medical care and the establishment of primary care beds in the town’s aged-residential care facility.

Miller is a founding member and treasurer of the Rural General Practice Network and the rural electorate representative of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners Council. He has also been a member of several GP and rural advisory groups, including the Pinnacle PHO management group and Midland Health Network rural advisory group.

In 2019, Miller was one of two recipients at that year’s Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (RNZCGP) College Awards, receiving a Community Service Medal in recognition of hard work and dedication as an exceptional GP and community member.

Speaking on his honour, Miller said it came as “a complete surprise and very humbling.” He added the innovation he is most proud of was “The introduction of point-of-care ultrasound to supplement our centre of rural excellence that we have built up over the past years”.

When asked what was the highlight of his 33 years in Whangamata, Miller said:

“I can’t think of just a single highlight over the time that I have been in Whangamata - every day is a highlight to go to work at the Whangamata Medical Centre with such an incredible group of highly talented, dedicated, hard-working and professional colleagues - doctors nurses and administrative staff - in our tiny slice of paradise amongst such a wonderful community.”

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