Peter Sherwen ( middle , back row ) is farewelled by colleagues on his last day at the BOPDHB .
Patch Adams admirer to retire after 32 years
Playing more golf is the simple aspiration for a popular surgeon and Patch Adams admirer as he retires after more than three decades .
Retiring is not an adjective which suits ENT Surgeon Peter Sherwen , as he is far from that , but after 32 years at Tauranga Hospital he is calling it a day .
“ I tried to bring a Patch Adams philosophy to the hospital . Laughter really is the best medicine ,” says Peter , whose own distinctive laugh will be missed around the hospital corridors .
“ People who can ’ t laugh at themselves are dangerous because they don ’ t believe they can be wrong about anything ,” he adds . “ Laughing at yourself is healthy , it keeps you questioning what you ’ re doing . Laughter in itself is a mechanism for change .”
Footrot Flats : the dog ’ s tale was a box office smash , Dave Dobbyn ’ s Slice of Heaven was topping the charts and New Zealand was having its first tilt at yachting ’ s biggest prize , the America ’ s Cup . The year was 1986 , and a young ENT surgeon was just starting his career at Tauranga Hospital .
“ It was a very different place back then . For example , when I arrived here there was no such thing as post-operative information sheets on common procedures so I introduced them ,” says Peter in characteristically matter-of-fact fashion . “ It was a simple thing but quite significant and other departments soon began producing them as well .
“ There was also no such thing as individual appointment times back then , everyone got an appointment of 1.30pm . Those in the know would turn up at 1pm and be the first to be seen . As a result those who turned up at 1.30pm could be waiting until 4.30pm . That was crazy so we introduced individual appointment times to bring some order to the whole thing .”
The changes didn ’ t finish there .
“ We changed the order of the lists so that the youngest were always seen first , unless there was a really good reason for that not to be the case . The really young ones don ’ t tend to be great at waiting ,” he adds with a laugh .
Only three consultants remain at Tauranga Hospital from the time Peter joined all those years ago .
The 63 year-old says he will likely continue in private practice for another year and stop operating in 18 months ’ time . He is known as being a great teacher and is referred to as the departmental lawyer . If anyone in the department had an issue other colleagues couldn ’ t help out with “ Talk to Peter ” or “ Ask Peter ” was often the advice given .
His empathetic side is to the fore in a final piece of advice .
“ Always make a point of leaving someone with a positive comment . Sometimes the news for patients is not good but you have to give them something positive to go away with . Being human with your patients is so important .”
Peter leaves the ENT surgical services department in good hands as Dinaz Irani has recently received full Specialist Registration as an Otolaryngologist ( ENT Surgeon ).
“ That ’ s great for Dinaz and the department ,” he says .
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