University of Auckland law professor Ron Paterson has been involved in several health reviews. Photo / Supplied
Ron Paterson has been a law lecturer for much of his life. He studied law at Auckland University in the 1970s, and after 18 months at Russell McVeagh, he went to Oxford on a postgraduate scholarship.
Returning to New Zealand at 30, he briefly worked for Sheffield Young and Ellis - now Chapman Tripp - but decided commercial litigation wasn’t his “cup of tea”.
Hoping to become an academic but not wanting to make mistakes in his own backyard, he taught law at the University of Ottawa in Canada for two years.
After a further stint as a visiting assistant professor at the University of British Columbia, he accepted a lectureship at the University of Auckland Law Faculty in 1986.
Thanks to a fascination with medicine and law, he developed a course at Auckland and before long he was drawn into the health sector which calls “one of my greatest loves”.
What first started out as writing columns in NZ Doctor magazine manifested into a Fulbright Fellowship at Case Western Reserve University in 1993. It was also a time when new health reforms were unfolding following the Cartwright Inquiry into the maltreatment of cervical cancer patients at Middlemore Hospital.
When he returned to New Zealand, Paterson knocked on the door of the new Northern regional health authority.
“Looking back, it was quite a brave move, because for all intents and purposes it was a sideways step. It was a fascinating time of change and new ways of doing things.”
After a short stint as Deputy Director-General for Safety and Regulation at the Ministry of Health, he was appointed as the second Health and Disability Commissioner in 2000.
His 10-year tenure was incredibly rewarding, leading high-profile inquiries into patient safety, mental health, maternity, and residential aged care quality.
“When you’re in a complaints job, your first task is to deal with the backlog of complaints and get on top of the in-tray. We made sure our processes were up to scratch and that we were seen as fair.
“When you get your own house in order, you’re in a much better position to start doing educational and outreach work with health professions and consumer groups. And to be an effective public watchdog.”
Having a regular spot on Radio New Zealand’s Nine to Noon was a good way of getting messages across to the broader public, he says.
“Being Commissioner was a real highlight of my career. It was a job that I loved.”
After 10 years it was time for some fresh blood, he says, accepting a chair role at the University of Auckland and writing a book, The Good Doctor: What Patients Want.
He was appointed as Ombudsman in Wellington in 2013. Although a fascinating role, he missed the health work and found that public administration, having to oversee the Official Information Act and the Wellington bureaucracy didn’t appeal. So after three years he returned to Auckland.
In addition to his academic work and public roles, he developed a hefty portfolio career leading inquiries and reviews at home and abroad.
Paterson led reviews into handling allegations of sexual misconduct for the Medical Board of Australia, leading to major changes in practice in Australia. He also looked into residential aged care quality for the Australian Government, prompting law reform.
Closer to home, Paterson chaired a review of veteran support legislation in New Zealand in 2017 and the Government Mental Health and Addiction inquiry in 2018 – again leading to law and policy changes.
How do you become a go-to person to lead such reviews? He’s never had a LinkedIn page, but after so many years of experience, he’s been tapped on the shoulder because he’s seen as a “safe pair of hands”, he says.
“I guess there’s a sense that as a professor of law, you’re independent. You’re not working directly for a government entity, so that independence is an advantage. Equally you don’t want someone completely foreign to the subject because you may miss nuances. It’s about balance.”
This year he was appointed by the Law Society to lead an inquiry into the regulation of lawyers in New Zealand.
With a background in professional regulation, legal ethics and consumer protection, and having led reviews into mental health, bullying and sexual harassment, the role seemed to be written for him.
“As a law professor, I’m not beholden to the profession. Obviously, for a review like this, it’s important to hear what the profession says.
“But you’ve also got to be a little bit cautious because the profession has its own interests. It’s easy for the voice of clients and the community not to be heard.
“I took on the project in part because I trained as a lawyer and I’ve spent half of my work life teaching future lawyers without actually practising. This is a way to contribute to the profession that trained me.”
Any review isn’t conducted alone, he says. For the lawyers’ review, he has strong colleagues in Wellington barrister Jane Meares and Otago legal academic Professor Jacinta Ruru – plus a secretariat supporting the work.
“The aim is to produce an authoritative, well-balanced report with findings and recommendations that should lead to changes in practice and law reform.”
Together the Independent Review Panel will deliver its final recommendations in March 2023, following consultation with the legal profession and key stakeholders.
Where to from here? Who knows, he says, but he’s “so grateful for the opportunities to try to make change in the world”.