Dr Paul Butler is a vocationally registered general practitioner, Principal and Medical Director of Milford Family Medical Centre. He graduated in medicine from the University of Auckland in 1979 and has more than four decades of experience in medicine and general practice.

Experience

Paul’s career has included medical and general-practice experience in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Australia. He is a principal of Milford Family Medical Centre in Auckland and has also worked in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, providing primary care to communities with a significant Māori population.

He has previously served as Chairman of the Auckland Faculty of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners and as a member of the College’s National Council. He was also Secretary of the North Shore branch of the New Zealand Medical Association and a co-founding trustee of the Fred Hollows Foundation New Zealand.

Approach to patient care

Paul enjoys the breadth and continuity of general practice and believes that good healthcare starts with understanding the individual person — their health history, circumstances, priorities and goals.

Alongside the diagnosis and treatment of illness, he has a particular interest in prevention and in identifying factors that may contribute to the development of chronic disease.

His approach is to help patients understand their health and the options available to them so that healthcare decisions can be made collaboratively. This may include conventional medical treatment together with appropriate attention to nutrition, physical activity, sleep, psychological wellbeing and other lifestyle factors.

Areas of particular interest

Paul has particular interests in:

• Preventive healthcare and healthy ageing

• Metabolic health and metabolic syndrome

• Nutrition and lifestyle medicine

• Chronic disease prevention and management

• Patient education and shared decision-making

• Using health measurements and outcomes to help patients understand what is working for them

Improving primary healthcare

Paul also has a longstanding interest in how primary healthcare can be improved.

He is currently involved in work exploring the development of a learning health system within primary care — using evidence-based clinical pathways, digital tools, patient participation and measurement of individual outcomes to help clinicians and patients make better-informed decisions.

A particular focus is metabolic syndrome and the opportunity to identify and address the underlying risk factors for type 2 diabetes and other chronic conditions earlier.

The aim is not to replace established medical care, but to complement it with a greater emphasis on prevention, informed choice and learning systematically from individual health outcomes.

Qualifications

BSc (Human Biology) — University of Auckland, 1976
MB ChB — University of Auckland, 1979
Dip Obst — University of Auckland, 1980
MSc (Holistic Science) — Schumacher College / Plymouth University, United Kingdom, 2014
FRNZCGP — Fellow, Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners

Dr Butler is vocationally registered in General Practice in New Zealand.