Good Practice

Issue 4 | April 2014 Most GPs could be said to have something of an altruistic streak, but WA’s Dr John van Bockxmeer does more than his share of work for the community. The recipient of this year’s WA Young Australian of the Year award, van Bockxmeer has spent much of the last decade volunteering in Australia and overseas and is a driving force behind social initiatives like Fair Game, which distributes used sporting equipment to disadvantaged migrant and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and FuturePerth, a group dedicated to the sustainable development of the WA capital.

For GPs who live in rural parts of Australia, a significant breadth of medical knowledge is essential in order to service their communities, but keeping up the necessary skills through continued training is not always easy. The RACGP’s National Rural Faculty’s Rural Procedural Grants Program allows them to attend courses and seminars and is a crucial tool in allowing these GPs to build and maintain their surgical and emergency skills.

With applications for the RACGP Foundation grants now open, Dr Gillian Gould tells us how the first such grant she was awarded proved a great way to get a foot in the door of the vital world of GP research.

Outstanding innovation and dedication to the local community are just some of the reasons Sheffield Medical Centre win the RACGP’s 2013 Tasmanian Practice of the Year award.