The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is proud to officially open the nomination period for the 2012 College awards, including GP supervisor, registrar and practice of the year. The awards recognise and celebrate outstanding contributions made by general practitioners (GPs) and general practice teams to the health and wellbeing of all Australians.
Award categories are designed to reflect a wide cross-section of exemplary work undertaken across a number of key facets within general practice, including:
- Excellence in local community service provision (both individual practitioner and whole-of-practice awards)
- Meritorious commitment to living and promoting RACGP values
- Training and mentoring roles
- Indigenous health promotion
- Supporting personal and professional welfare and wellbeing of rural doctors
Professor Nigel Stocks, RACGP Chair of Council and Chair of the Awards Committee of Council, said the awards provided the opportunity to shine light on some of Australia's true primary healthcare champions.
"With over 125 million general practice consultations taking place in Australia every year, GPs and their practice teams play an integral role in supporting individuals, families and their communities maintain their health.
"The RACGP awards are about recognising those working hard in our local communities to ensure the best possible health outcomes are achieved for individuals and their families.
"The beauty of the awards lies in the fact that recipients are nominated by fellow members of the profession; although in certain categories, members of the community can also nominate their local GP or practice team," Professor Stocks said.
Last year's RACGP General Practitioner of the Year, Dr Jenny Wray of Narooma, New South Wales, said being announced the recipient of this highly prestigious College award was an unexpected honour and a proud achievement in her 34-year career working in general practice.
"I love being a GP. I love feeling connected to my practice team, our patients and the community. The RACGP awards are a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our great profession – a profession that has an enormous positive impact on the health and well-being of all people living in Australia," Dr Wray said.
Nominations for the RACGP awards are open from 10 April – 8 June 2012.
2012 RACGP Award categories
Further information and nomination forms are available at: www.racgp.org.au/awards.