Meet our team of Clinical Associates
Morag Lawson - Nurse Practitioner (NP)
Morag has extensive experience in management of acute, urgent presentations and long-term medical conditions.
Her time is spent seeing patients both on the walk-in service and in appointments (which are bookable online via the Well App or Portal on www.riccartonclinic.co.nz)
We’re very excited to have many of our patients enrolled with Morag as their registered provider, and she is excited to get to know you and your families, providing valuable primary care where it’s needed most.
Here is a link to more information about this fantastic workforce that we are so proud to support.
https://www.healthnavigator.org.nz/healthy-living/n/nurse-practitioner/
Scott Deaton - Physician Associate (PA)
Scott has been working with us in the Urgent Care Clinic since September 2022. He is very competent and knowledgeable in managing acute injury and medical issues.
Riccarton Clinic is the first clinic in the South Island to employ a PA.
Physician Associates (PA) — or "Physician Assistants" as they're known in other parts of the world — are highly-trained medical professionals.
PAs practice medicine in collaboration with and under the license of their supervising Doctors. Their scope of practice varies depending on where they practice and the scope of their supervising doctor(s).
The inception of PAs took place in the United States in the 1960’s. PAs in the US, the UK and Canada are trained in the “medical model”, complete rigorous education and clinical rotations for their certification and practice medicine upon completion of their training.
Their education includes a bachelor’s degree and often 2-3000 hours of hands-on medical work before entering the PA master’s degree program or postgraduate degree diploma. This training often takes place within or alongside a medical school.
In the United Kingdom, there has been an expansion of the PA workforce recently, and regulation under the General Medical Council was announced in 2019. The same progression is currently happening in New Zealand.
There are over 30 PAs practicing in New Zealand, and this model has been well received by doctors, nurse practitioners, nurse administrative staff and patients.
