Robert Crawford

Robert John Mackay Crawford (30 May 1941 – 4 August 2021) was a British-born New Zealand doctor who specialised in the treatment of alcoholism and addictions. He was medical superintendent of Queen Mary Hospital in Hanmer Springs from 1976 to 1991 and an advocate for residential treatment for addictions.

Early life Crawford was born on 30 May 1941. His parents were both doctors, trained at Edinburgh University. His mother was an anaesthetist at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and medical officer at a tuberculosis sanatorium in the Lake District. His father served in the Royal Navy Reserve in Sri Lanka during World War II. He practiced at clinics in Edinburgh but became disillusioned with psychiatric practice in Scotland where he felt there was overuse of medication in treatment and a system which was uncaring. After the hospital's closure he continued to advocate for the hospital and its buildings. He and a group of Hanmer residents set up The Queen Mary Reserve Trust Incorporated in 2003 to retain the land in public ownership. In 2018 he joined former patients in a call for the hospital to reopen.

By his own admission he was off-side with the government and some in the medical professions for opposing outpatient treatments and for advocating for effective residential treatment for alcoholism and drug addictions. In 2019 a report into mental health acknowledged the success of the Taha Māori programme and called for it to be reinstated.

Honours and awards Crawford was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to mental health and addiction services, in the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours. He was awarded Distinguished Membership of the New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists.

Personal life Crawford's wife Jan practised medicine in the Culverden and Waiau areas.