Carefirst Moturoa

My home town is Christchurch and I attended Otago School of Medicine.

I started as a Jr House Surgeon in New Plymouth (despite being an avowed Cantabrian) and fell in love with Taranaki.

I am the Mum of 3 beautiful children of whom I am so proud – Christopher, Isabella and Claudia. I also have a German Shepard called Elsa and 2 very naughty Burmese cats.

I love the outdoors and anything adventurous including skiing white water kayaking mountain biking and almost anything that involves being in the surf 

The best part of my job is having the privilege of caring for my patients and having such an awesome bunch of colleagues – the Carefirst staff .

I was born in Stratford, Taranaki, and trained at the University of Otago, Dunedin. I have worked at Carefirst for two months. My areas of specialty are skin surgery, sport medicine and orthopaedics. I love spending time with my family and my dog Lola, competing in Triathlon, watching sport and helping out rugby teams as a medic.

I graduated from Medical university in Russia in 2003.  I worked at Taranaki Base Hospital before my training as a GP here in New Zealand and have been working in Merrilands Medical centre since 2012 in General medicine. I have 2 children 9 and 7 years old and enjoy travel and gardening.

Kiyomi grew up in British Columbia, Canada and moved to New Zealand at the age of 21 to study medicine at the University of Otago, graduating in 2010. Her father is second generation Japanese-Canadian and her mother is New Zealand European from Ngāruawāhia.  Kiyomi worked at Taranaki Base Hospital for her first two years and subsequently joined the GP training scheme in New Plymouth and has remained with CAREfirst from 2012 onwards and is now a part owner of CAREfirst. Kiyomi holds a Diploma in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. She has interests in Women’s Health, Lactation Support, Child & Adolescent Health and a passion for health gains from climate action and community health initiatives. Kiyomi lives with her husband and three young children. She enjoys being creative through graphic design, homemade fancy dress costumes and art with her children. She loves gardening for all the health benefits it provides and most of all spending time with her whānau. 

Dr Lucy Gibberd has been a partner at Carefirst since early 2002. She trained in medicine in the UK and then came to New Zealand as a junior doctor at Taranaki Base Hospital in 1991. After several years in hospital medicine, she decided to train as a GP, first in Cornwall in the UK and then back in Taranaki. She joined the Carefirst group when it was in its infancy and has since then been dedicated to providing high quality patient care. She has a special interest in dermatology having completed a diploma in that subject in 1999 and having spent some time working at Taranaki Base Hospital in the Dermatology outpatient department. She is also interested in GP training, having been the RNZCGP Medical Educator for the Taranaki region for a number of years. Currently she splits her time between her GP practice and her other role as a Medicolegal Consultant for the Medical Protection Society. She is married to Dr Geoff Tvrdeich and they have 3 children together. She enjoys the outdoors – skiing and tramping, but also enjoys sewing and knitting, when she can find the time.

Nelia is originally from South Africa and qualified as a medical doctor from Stellenbosch University in 2004. She lived in Aberdeen, Scotland from 2007 – 2019 during which time she mainly worked in General Practice and also completed her GP training with the Royal College of GPs. In 2019 she moved to Taranaki with her husband and 2 boys. In 2020 she joined the team at Merrilands. She has a family planning diploma and special interest in minor surgery. In her free time she enjoys spending time with her family outdoors, cycling, camping and working on the golf!

Paul is from the UK, and came to New Plymouth for a short holiday in 2009. He has a wife and four daughters. Outside of work, Paul spends a lot of time with his family, enjoys all sport, painting and watching movies. His interests include foot and ankle problems, and sports medicine. He has been team doctor for the Taranaki Bulls since 2017, and has previously worked with the Wellington Phoenix soccer team, Chiefs Rugby, and the Central Pulse netball team.

Dr Sarah Prior was raised in Masterton, and she is proud to be her family’s 4^th generation General Practitioner. She trained through University of Otago in Dunedin and Wellington. She joined Carefirst Westown in 2013, before relocating her practice to Carefirst Moturoa in 2021 after returning from maternity leave. She enjoys the continuity of care in general practice, and so caring for families is a real highlight. She also enjoys women’s and sexual health, paediatrics (children’s health) and transgender medicine. She enjoys teaching and supervises a GP registrar. She feels privileged to be a GP, caring for people and their families through life’s ups and downs. She loves living in New Plymouth with her husband, two children and dog, Otto. Her interests include art, travel, live music, good food and great wine. 

Shaun was born and raised in New Plymouth. After graduating from the University of Otago he returned to work at Taranaki Base Hospital, where he spent most of his time working in the Emergency Department and Paediatrics. After a period of overseas travel, Shaun returned to New Zealand and started working at CAREfirst Westown in early 2016. He holds a diploma in Paediatrics from the University of Auckland and became a Fellow of the Royal NZ College of General Practitioners (FRNZGP) in 2020. His special interest areas include Acute Care Medicine, Orthopaedics and Preventative Medicine. Shaun enjoys the variety of work that General Practice offers as well as the chance to help patients make positive lifestyle changes for themselves and their families. He lives with his wife Justine and three young children. He loves coffee, cooking and travelling.

I am from a dairy farm just south of Hawera. My parents still live there so I visit regularly.

I trained through Otago university – spending my first 3 years in chilly Dunedin before moving up to Christchurch for my clinical training.

After university I returned to my home province and started working at Base hospital. I spent 3 years here in various departments before starting my general practice career at Merrilands at the end of 2019. I have joined the GP college this year as a GPEP1 which is the first step in achieving my goal of becoming a fellow of the college. Still new to the profession, I am focusing on building my skills in all areas of general practice rather than finding a special interest right away. I do have a passion for womens’ and reproductive health and hope to do further training in these areas in the future.

I love being a GP because I enjoy getting to know my patients and working with them to achieve their health goals.

Outside of my work I enjoy jogging, catching up with friends over a coffee and cooking. I love Taranaki not only because it is home, but also for the beautiful sea and mountain views and the relaxed lifestyle it offers.

Born in Taiwan, raised in Dunedin. Studied at Otago Uni. Been at CAREfirst for 3 years. Special field of interest women’s health and travel having lived overseas in West Africa for nearly 5 years. Taranaki is a great place to raise little kids, have daughters 6 and 4 now, enjoy hiking, gardening (love to keep trying although I don’t have much of a green thumb!), and my 2 Basenji cross dogs.