Highly respected St George doctor Adam Coltzau has been named the Queensland finalist in the 2017 Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) General Practitioner of the Year Award.
The annual award recognises GPs who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to improving the health and wellbeing of their community.
Chair of RACGP Queensland Dr Edwin Kruys said Dr Coltzau was a most worthy recipient of the award.
“Dr Coltzau has devoted his career to enhancing the lives of his patients and their family members,” Dr Kruys said.
“He has been an outstanding advocate for rural general practice throughout his career and is a wonderful asset for his community.”
A classic rural GP, Dr Coltzau has driven to neighbouring towns of Dirranbandi and Mungindi (both over 100km away) to assist solo rural GPs in emergencies on numerous occasions.
“It is this commitment to the care of his local and surrounding community that exemplifies Dr Coltzau’s attitude to rural medicine and makes him a deserving recipient of the title of RACGP Queensland GP of the Year,” Dr Kruys said.
“He brings immense value to the many groups he belongs to within the St George community and has inspired many of the next generation of GPs to follow in his footsteps.”
As well as his exemplary work with patients, Dr Coltzau has also been heavily involved in the training of GP registrars. He is a senior lecturer at the University of Queensland and regularly runs teaching sessions with medical students on their rural rotations. He has facilitated many workshops for junior doctors in rural areas and convenes weekly education meetings in St George that involve almost all of the GPs within a 150km radius.
The national winners of the RACGP awards will be announced at GP17 – the RACGP’s annual conference for general practice – running from 26–28 October 2017.