Aggett worked as a physician in Black hospitals (under apartheid hospitals were segregated) in Umtata, Tembisa and later at Baragwanath hospital in Soweto, working in Casualty and learning to speak basic Zulu.
In the New Year Honours 2011 Baragwanath was appointed as a Knight Companion of The New Zealand Order of Merit for services as a Judge of the Court of Appeal.