They first met at Cook Hospital in 1977 where both worked as house surgeons.
Dr Belfield was originally from Hamilton.
“She was on her OE, but didn’t get far,” he said.
They have witnessed the significant impact technology has made in medicine such as computers, CT scanning, and in the diagnostic capabilities GPs now have.
“There are tests that can be done in seconds today,” said Dr Belfield.
In the past, they were very limited. He remembers sending serum packed in chilly bins from Te Araroa to the laboratory in Gisborne.
Dr Belfield said the other “big thing” was the added bureaucracy and slower processes in the health sector today with different funders, numerous administrators and a greater need for detailed and accurate note keeping.
Detailed records allow for continuity of care, effective healthcare and demonstrate professional integrity, but have also resulted in less time being spent talking and interacting with patients.
“It takes much longer to get the same amount of work done,” said Dr Belfield.
“I spend most of my time today looking at my computer,’’ he said.
“We don’t see so many patients now because of paper work,” said Dr Cloete.
The couple were married in South Africa in 1978 and returned to New Zealand to work as GPs at Te Araroa.
Their two years on the Coast was a busy time for them.
They travelled often to see their many patients, as far away as Te Kaha.
But looking after so many patients was not an onerous task because the health sector bureaucracy and paper work of today did not exist, said Dr Cloete.
Rich and varied medical careersThey returned to South Africa where they lived from 1980 to 1986 when AIDS first emerged on the world stage as a new and major health issue.
“We saw a large number of cases,’’ said Dr Belfield.
‘‘Initially, we did not know what it was.”
At one stage he worked at an integrated GP centre, which was unusual for apartheid-era South Africa.
Dr Cloete practised from home where patients, regardless of ethnicity, shared the same waiting rooms.
The standard of healthcare was high but patient-throughput was “huge”.
Dr Belfield’s integrated GP centre was in Hillbrow, an inner city residential neighbourhood of Johannesburg.
He said Hillbrow was a vibrant suburb in the 1980s.
“It’s a death trap now. It’s a gangster place.”
Dr Cloete said she wouldn’t drive through the suburb today.
Upon returning to Gisborne, the couple took over the patients of the retiring Dr John Beedie and established their practice at Kaiti Mall.
Warren Smythe and Gus McCabe of Smythes Pharmacy helped them to get established.
They sold the practice to Ngati Porou Hauora 14 years later but remained working for them for another decade.
Dr Belfield said they inherited wonderful patients from Dr Beedie.
“We’ve still got most of our patients from Te Araroa too.
“Some were babies, now they are aged 40. We’re getting old.”
They established De Lautour Medical five years ago.
Dr Belfield said it was an attempt to move away from corporate-type medicine.
“We felt that general practices seemed to have become too financially-focused, concentrating on throughput and measuring targets that often only existed because they represented something that was easy to measure.
“The concept of a family doctor and continuity of patient care were more attractive to us. We were bought up to believe you had a family doctor look after you from birth to death.
“It has been very satisfying to find that this feeling was shared not only by patients but also younger doctors — as a result the practice grew very quickly and when we left there were still 10 permanent GPs remaining, together with doctors in training.
“It is nice to know your doctor.”
“And we had a great practice manager and nice reception staff,’’ said Dr Cloete.
The couple have many plans for their retirement.
They are off-road driving enthusiasts and enjoyed many such opportunities available to them in Africa.
Similar exciting experiences await them in the South Island with their Jeep next month.
They have numerous other interests and trips lie ahead to visit grandchildren in Hamilton and a daughter in London.
Meanwhile, their holiday home at Pauanui needs work.
