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Pegasus Health

Dr Larry Skiba: a career in care

Last Updated: 20 February 2026

Retiring from general practice after 46 years, Dr Larry Skiba has seen major changes in the Waitaha Canterbury general practice landscape.

Larry began work as a general practitioner (GP) in April 1979. Over nearly five decades, he watched general practice move from paper based systems and long on-call hours to team-based care and digital tools.

“When I started as a GP, you did almost everything yourself,” Larry said. “Care is more complex now, but it is shared and better supported.”

Early in his career, Larry developed an interest in travel medicine. In the 1980s, he provided travel advice and immunisations at a time when little formal guidance existed, giving printed information packs to patients heading overseas. He later helped establish the New Zealand Society of Travel Medicine and contributed to early national programmes.

Larry was an early adopter of computer-based prescribing in the 1990s, a change that reduced medication errors through improved legibility.

He also saw shifts in maternity care, from GP-led care throughout pregnancy to today’s midwife-led model.

“There are still families I know because I delivered their children and then kept seeing them in practice,” Larry said.

The role and responsibilities of practice nurses expanded significantly over his career, alongside more flexible working arrangements for GPs and changes in practice ownership models. A

longside his practice-based work, Larry has been a trip doctor with the Waitaha division of Koru Care, Air New Zealand’s staff charity, since 1997. Koru Care offers free overseas trips for children with serious health conditions. The charity runs two-week trips to the United States, including visits to San Diego and Los Angeles.

“For many of the kids, it’s their first time overseas or on a big plane,” Larry said.

Larry travels with medications for minor conditions and supports children with more complex needs, including seizures, cardiac issues, and cancer recovery.

“It’s awesome to see what the kids get out of it, so many wonderful memories,” Larry said.