Dr Bryan Betty is a General Practitioner at Union and Community Health , a not for profit health clinic in Cannons Creek, East Porirua, a suburb that is known for its high needs and social deprivation. The practice has 7,000 enrolled patients, 90 percent who are high needs with 25 percent Māori, 50 percent Pasifika and the remainder mainly refugee.

Dr Betty was the Medical Director of The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners before stepping down to become Chair of General Practice New Zealand (GPNZ) last year.

I first met Dr Betty back in 2011 when I was making my documentary Inside Child Poverty and I can tell you he pulls no punches about the broken state of our primary care system and what we need to do to fix it.

Over the course of his career, he has been a vocal critic of New Zealand’s rheumatic fever and type 2 diabetes statistics and is a strong advocate for change that will improve health outcomes and reduce health inequities for everyone – no matter where they live.

Free to listen on Apple Podcast.

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