Walking beside her patients throughout their healthcare journey is one of the most satisfying aspects of surgeon Sue McKeage’s job.
The Churchill Private Hospital and Specialist Centre general and breast surgeon has worked in Marlborough since 2006, and in that time has helped numerous patients from diagnosis to recovery.
“The long-term involvement that you have with people – and in my case that’s predominantly with breast cancer patients – is something I find particularly rewarding. That is one of the main reasons why I specialise in that area.”
Sue originally hails from Canterbury, but her medical training mainly took place in Wellington and Dunedin. “I did my advanced surgical training in Dunedin and worked for 10 years in Auckland as a consultant specialist breast and general surgeon before coming to Blenheim.”
From her spacious consulting room at the Churchill Specialist Centre, Sue offers specialist advice in most general surgical areas including hernia surgery, laparoscopic cholecystectomy, assessment of abdominal pain and change of bowel habit, skin lesion assessment, and assessment of varicose veins.
Her area of specialisation, breast surgery, covers breast reduction and augmentation, and breast cancer management and surgery.
Like many Churchill specialists, Sue also works at Wairau Hospital for Nelson Marlborough Health, which has a successful working relationship with Churchill, including resource sharing.
Sue is also particularly driven to help Marlburians with early treatment of skin cancers.
“I see that delays in this area have a very negative effect both on the patient and on the healthcare sector.”
During her time at Churchill, Sue has seen the full rebuild of the facility, including the addition of a state-of-the-art modular surgical theatre [link] in 2018 and the entirely purpose-built new specialist centre and hospital in 2013. “I think both clinicians and patients really enjoy the calming environment[t that we have here now.”
