Justin Butcher, during an Anzac Day shift as a critical care flight paramedic with the Waikato Westpac Rescue Helicopter.
Justin Butcher, father, occasional hockey player and when needed, critical care flight paramedic is eight months into the role of chief executive of Pinnacle Inc.
Pinnacle is the Te Manawa Taki-Midlands primary health network of around 85 general practices across Waikato, Lakes, Tairāwhiti and Taranaki.
There are 30 primary health organisations and Pinnacle is one of the four largest.
Butcher’s journey to chief executive took some twists and turns.
He was born at Waikato Hospital and raised in Mātangi and says he fell into healthcare by accident.
He enrolled in a Bachelor of Management at the University of Waikato in around 2000, and near the end of his degree began volunteering with St John in Cambridge.
After graduating and one month before he was due to start in the Deloitte graduate programme in Auckland, he gave up the placement in favour of working full time in the St John education programme and training to become a paramedic.
It was the start of a varied health sector career that has included further studies, and primary care services and leadership roles – while continuing to moonlight on the frontline of emergency response.
Ten years ago, when he saw his future in the ambulance service, he was in Christchurch visiting his wife’s family when the second major earthquake hit.
Butcher ended up based at the CTV building, where 115 of the 185 people who died during the earthquake had been when it struck.
“I probably saw too much and got a bit burnt out from that experience.”
He joined Pinnacle as a project manager looking at primary options and an acute demand strategy and 10 years later was appointed CEO.
He also resumed working on the frontline, first in the ambulance then the rescue helicopter.
These days Butcher still works when needed with Waikato Westpac Rescue Helicopter as a Critical Care Flight Paramedics, who are trained to provide critical care interventions and work in a helicopter environment.
“I still really enjoy it – I get a lot out of it. It fills my cup; it’s a change of pace and mindset from what I’m doing at Pinnacle,” he says.
“I see the inequities firsthand, if I go into an emergency motel unit where people are trying to raise their kids, it’s very grounding and it motivates me to sit there and say, what can we do differently, how can we change the system to help these people more?
He says the country is going through an unprecedented and ambitious reform of the health system and calls it an exciting time.
He also says it’s probably one of the most frustrating times.
“Nationally we’ve seen the announcement that 5000 nurses have registered to work in Australia since August and there are hundreds more every month.
“To truly want to make a difference on health equity we need to look at how we grow our own workforce rather than relying just on international imports,” he says.
Added to the workforce crisis he says there is pay disparity, inequitable funding for primary and secondary care.
Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) may hold the answers, but Butcher says while the vision is clear, there is still no action plan or detailed road map to share with staff and stakeholders.
“We’re operating a bit on blind faith; we know we’re heading in the right direction but all we can ask is for people to come with us, and all will be well.”
He is passionate about leading Pinnacle on a journey to becoming a bicultural organisation, and where diversity and incusion are embraced – because it’s the right thing to do.
“We have 93,000 Māori and 9,000 Pacific people enrolled with us across the network, so with that comes a lot of responsibility to provide services in a culturally appropriate manner. That’s hard to do if you don’t understand the culture. I’m not where I need to be, and there’s a long way to go – this is all a journey.
