Dr Fiona Bolden

Dr Fiona Bolden MB ChB 1990 Bristol; MRCGP 1995; FRNZCGP 2005 (Dist)

Fiona Bolden is a passionate advocate for rural health, combining decades of experience as both a frontline rural clinician and a healthcare leader. As the inaugural Chair of Hauora Taiwhenua/Rural Health Network, she has led the network’s growth from a fledgling advocacy organisation into a unified and influential voice for rural health. Before Hauora Taiwhenua was launched in 2022, Fiona served for three years as Chair of one of the key founding member organisations, the New Zealand Rural General Practice Network (NZRGPN). She had been on NZRGPN’s board since 2010.

In her ongoing clinical work as a rural GP, Fiona remains deeply connected to the rural communities she works with and is driven by the relationships she has forged over the years. She provides out-of-hours care, participates in PRIME (Primary Medical Emergency Response) and has played an instrumental role in many community wellbeing initiatives, including suicide prevention and women’s health.

Fiona’s vision for sustainable rural health reaches beyond her region and New Zealand with an aspiration for interconnected and supportive networks of healthcare professionals across borders. Recently, Fiona led Hauora Taiwhenua’s successful bid to host the Rural WONCA (World Organisation of Family Doctors) conference in New Zealand in 2026. She is looking forward to the opportunity to work with rural health professionals from across the network to showcase Indigenous healthcare approaches on an international platform.

While her advocacy extends to the global stage, Fiona remains deeply committed to rural primary care, with a strong focus on mental health support. Originally from the UK, studying medicine at the University of Bristol, she did her general practice training rurally. She moved to NZ in 2002 with her young family, settling initially in Kawhia and then working in Whaingaroa/Raglan where she jointly owned a practice until December 2018. She worked for Midlands Primary Healthcare Organisation (PHO) as a clinical lead in mental health and addictions for four years and now has a role on the national clinical network for mental health and addiction. From 2018 to 2025, she worked at Whangamatā in the Coromandel and is currently practising rural and remote medicine as a locum GP.

Fiona represents the rural health network with her regular contributions to NZDoctor. Her heartfelt passion for an equitable health service for rural communities can be seen in the media interviews and the advocacy work that she does throughout all levels of the system but is felt most strongly in the people, whanau and communities that she has dedicated her career to serving.