O&G returns to hospital, now keen to teach others

10/05/2011 | Welcome Sarah Machin

MidCentral Health has welcomed a sixth consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist to its regional women’s health team, which includes Whanganui District Health Board.

Sarah Machin, who was a registrar at Palmerston North Hospital, and then left the city two years ago to complete her training at The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, in England, returned at the end of March.

Sarah, who is originally from the UK, admits she originally only came to New Zealand for six months but “ended up staying.”
She said there was “good training, a good (Women’s Health) department here, and a better lifestyle than the NHS (National Health Service) in England.”

“The department is friendly and all the other consultants were welcoming; it is a very supportive department – a good place to be a new consultant.”

Sarah said four of the present O& G consultants and lots of midwives and nurses that were here when she left two years ago are still here, making it nice for her return.

Sarah first came to New Zealand in 2002 as a senior house officer at Palmerston North Hospital and worked in women’s health and ED. She applied for O & G training – specialist training through the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. The six-year programme sees doctors rotate around hospitals in New Zealand and then for the final two years they are able to go overseas to college approved training positions. As well as Palmerston North Sarah worked at Wellington, and Hawke’s Bay Hospitals. During the last two years Sarah went to Norwich for 18 months to finish her training and is now a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist.

Sarah has a special interest in urogynaecology – as do other O & G staff – which, among other conditions deals with women suffering from pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence.
As well as theatre work, working on the delivery suite and running clinics in Palmerston North, Sarah enjoys travelling to Dannevirke for women’s clinics on alternate Monday afternoons.

Sarah would like to repay the efforts of staff that helped in her training here by being involved in teaching registrars and senior house officers. “I remember how important it was for me to have people keen to teach and help get me through those dreaded exams!”

And there was another reason she also returned to Palmerston North Hospital – her husband Vik Singh an anaesthetist, also found a job here – “it’s great to be working in the same hospital and after travelling around so much for our training to be settled back in Palmerston North.”

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