RACGP Awards

2020 RACGP National Awards Ceremony

Recorded on Friday 20 November 2020

Host: Mr Warwick Merry

00:00 – 02:31 – Introduction countdown video

02:32 – 04:51

Warwick: Welcome to the 2020 RACGP National Awards Ceremony. I’m Warwick Merry and I’m going to be your host for the next hour and a half or so. Thank you so much for joining us. What a year it has been.

This awards ceremony is all about celebration and celebrating the great work you have all done throughout this great country of ours. Now there has been some strong competition for the awards this year with over 185 nominations received for the RACGP Awards across nine different categories.

Now as we get started I wanted to recognise and acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet and which we are all gathering from this evening and pay my respects to the elders past, present and emerging. I’m joining you from the lands of the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin nations here in Melbourne.

Now throughout the course of the evening, let’s be honest, we’ve been through far too much isolation already. Now we had a bit of a chat in the warm up cocktail party, there’s a chat function on the service you’re watching now. I’d strongly encourage you to use it. Have a chat to the other people, find out how those pizzas are going, and maybe Cameron can share some of the different photos he’s been taking. Whatever it is, just make sure you’re having a bit of a chat, engaging and connecting.

At the very least, celebrate some of the achievements that are going to be announced over the course of the evening. This is your evening, we’d love for you to be part of it and truly engage, and have a bit of fun as we go along. How does that sound? I hope that’s going to be good for you.

Now this evening as you’re celebrating, we’d love you to take a couple of pictures and share them with the hashtag #RACGPAwards. There’s a couple out there on Twitter already, there’s a couple of Instagram, so check them out and share them so we can see how you’re celebrating this evening. You could be staying at home having a pizza, you might be chasing the chooks around, who knows what you’re up to. But we’d love to see how you’re celebrating this evening.

We are going to take a short intermission half way through so you can top up your beverages and do whatever you need to do, maybe get a few more snacks and that’ll be happening about that half way mark. So to kick off formally for this evening, I’d like to introduce the Acting President Ayman Shenouda to welcome our attendees and to commence our proceedings. Please join me in welcoming Associate Professor Ayman Shenouda, the RACGP Acting President.

04:52 – 07:19

Ayman: Good evening everyone joining us tonight. I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land in which I deliver this message, the Wiradjuri people. I pay my respects to their elders past, present and future.

It is an honour to welcome you to the 2020 RACGP National Awards Ceremony. When I reflect on RACGP award nominees and those recipients being acknowledged this evening it is just another reminder of how important GPs are to their communities and the health of the nation.

These are people who are there for their patients when health crises strike and ensure the most vulnerable members of the community are not forgotten. In congratulating award winners this year I was struck by how humble they were.

They has to be coaxed to speak about themselves when approached by media. These GPs were hesitant to draw attention to themselves because it is now what drives the profession.

What drives us GPs is a commitment to our patients, especially when they need us most.

I could not be prouder to have lead an organisation that fights for them every day.

I would now like to take the opportunity to award the Honorary Fellowship for 2020. It is a great honour to announce that Dr Trina Gregory is awarded Honorary Fellowship of the RACGP. Congratulations Trina.

I would now like to take the opportunity to award the Honorary Memberships for 2020. It is a pleasure to announce that Mrs Fiona Edgecombe and Mr Mark Evans are awarded Honorary Membership of the RACGP. Please join me in congratulating Fiona and Mark.

Congratulations in advance to the award recipients to be acknowledged throughout this evening’s ceremony, it is most deserved.

It has been a pleasure, thank you.

07:20 – 08:35

Warwick: Congratulations to Trina, Fiona and Mark. What a fantastic way to kick off this awards night. Alright, let’s get into it.

Without further ado, we’re going to get straight into the awards and kick off with the Monty Kent-Hughes Award.

Dr Montague Kent-Hughes was a founding Fellow of the RACGP and a distinguished educator. During his career, he served as RACGP President, Chair of the Victoria Faculty, a council member, and Chair of the Education Committee. In 1975, he was awarded the prestigious Rose Hunt medal.

In 1967, Dr Kent-Hughes organised the first RACGP examination, and until his passing in 1976, loyally fostered its development.

In honour of Dr Kent-Hughes, a medal is awarded to the candidate who achieves the highest score in the RACGP OSCE (OS-KY).

It’s a great pleasure to announce that the candidate who achieved the highest score for the 2019.2 RACGP exam cycle is Dr Chantelle Blagg who is awarded the Monty Kent-Hughes memorial medal.

Congratulations Chantelle.

08:36 – 11:23

Warwick: We’re going to move onto the Corlis award. Now the Corlis Award commemorates the contribution of the late Dr Willson (Bill) Corlis to the RACGP’s standing as a leader in medical education. This award recognises an RACGP member or fellow who has contributed substantially to the education and mentoring of doctors who are on any of the RACGP pathways to Fellowship.

It’s a great pleasure to announce that the 2020 recipient of the Corlis Award is Dr Anne Eastwood.

Anne: I’m honoured and very surprised to win this award and I’m grateful to the RACGP. Australia has a sizeable, dedicated and skilled and collaborative band of medical educators. Many of whom have encouraged and inspired me and how would also deserve this award.

I have learned most of what I know about educating future general practitioners from them. The legacy of early medical educators such as Bill Corlis continues and the number of enthusiastic and capable younger medical educators who are joining the ranks, gives me confidence that it will endeavour.

My registrars continue to inspire me with the way they manage a short and tense vocational training program alongside other responsibilities such as family and Defence Force commitments. Nothings gives me a greater feeling of satisfaction than a former registrar, reappearing as a supervisor, teaching visitor or medical educator.

I would also like to acknowledge the role played by the supervisors who have the key role in our workplace based training program. I would like to thank my colleagues at GP Synergy for nominating me and for providing a stimulating, challenging and supportive place to work. And, again I thank the RACGP for this award.

Warwick: So a bit of background for Anne for those of you that don’t know her. Anne has acquired a well-deserved reputation for hard work, commitment and reliability, as is a highly respected senior member of the GP synergy team. Anne has a genuine commitment to bettering the lives of others, demonstrated through her GP career in refugee health, and plays an instrumental role in successful progression of Australian Defence Force registrars through their training. So congratulations Anne on winning that award.

11:24 – 17:00

Warwick: I’m now moving onto the Rose Hunt award. The Rose Hunt award is the highest accolade awarded by the RACGP. The Rose Hunt awarded is presented to a GP who has demonstrated outstanding service in promoting the objectives of the RACGP, either through individual patient care, education, research, or any other means.

The award was a gift from the Royal College of General Practitioners to the RACGP in 1972. The first award was made in October 1974 to Dr William Arnold Conolly, a founding father of the RACGP.

It’s a great pleasure to announce that the 2020 recipient of the Rose Hunt award is Associate Professor Brad Murphy.

Now Brad was the inaugural chair of the RACGP National Faculty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, Brad drove the development of the faculty and its successful recognition as a fundamental and enduring component of the college. Through his example, his leadership and his legacy, Brad has changed Australian general practice and the college. His is an inspiration to us all, but especially to young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are medical students and GP registrars.

Brad pushed in 2008 to create the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Faculty and have full representation on the board. He highlighted early on in his time as chair that his wish for RACGP growing to be respectful of the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. His fervent wish was for RACGP to strengthen its role supporting the health of his people. This year the faculty celebrates its 10^th anniversary.

I’d like to now welcome Brad to accept this award.

Brad: Hi guys, I’m Associate Professor Brad Murphy from Ashfield Country Practice in Bundaberg. It’s the greatest honour to receive the Rose Hunt award. It’s extremely humbling and to be amongst so many of the College’s legends and mentors I’ve had along the way. And of course, there’s so many deserving people, particularly in this 10^th anniversary of us starting the National Faculty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health.

It’s the greatest honour to be acknowledged and it’s a great acknowledgement of the work that the team within the Faculty have done. We started back in 2007 getting our National Standing Committee going and building upon the work that had been done by the team in the Aboriginal Health unit before that. The time was right, the College was at the forefront and kicking goals and we did that with the National Standing Committee and we were able to transition that into a National faculty acknowledging the work of general practice that occurs on traditional lands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

As a Kamilaroi man, I am extremely honoured to be a GP and to represent my people, but to also represent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across Australia. We’ve got a little practice in Bundaberg that focuses on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health as well as veteran’s health, with my veteran background as a Navy sailor.

It’s an incredible honour to be a GP in Australia and particularly through this COVID crisis, to hold your head when all others are losing theirs around us. It has been a tremendous time to make sure we supported our communities, our staff, making sure we’re looking after ourselves as well. Making sure that our own mental health and trying to work in an ever changing environment has been an incredible challenge for this year in particular. But I’d like to say a really tremendous shout out and thanks to the College for all the support that they’ve afforded me over the years to take my dream forward and see it recognised now as a National Faculty and to all of those that shared that dream and came along and invested.

The Faculty now has over 11,000 members, of people opting from the College membership and their key strategic stakeholders, of so many areas of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health in Australia, lending advocacy and providing support to a whole heap of strategic stakeholders as well.

I think that one of the greatest joys that I’ve seen in time is the acceptance that closing the gap is going to be harder than we thought, but harder than we thought because of the great job that we are doing that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health when it’s done well actually influences in an extremely positive way, healthcare for all Australians. So while we continue to move the goal posts for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People, we’re actually moving the goal posts for all Australian people to make everyone healthier along the way. So that’s a bit more of a challenge and I don’t think we should be so hard upon ourselves with those milestones, but we’ve got a long way to go and we’ve come a long way and there’s some tremendous people doing some tremendous work and I’m very honoured to receive this award from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. It’s been a hell of a ride and it’s not over yet. Thanks so much.

Warwick: Congratulations Brad and its quite obvious you’re passionate about your positioning there so thank you so much for the great work that you do.

17:00 – 21:05

Warwick: I’m excited about what’s coming up over the next couple of days with the convention happening. So not only do we have the awards tonight, but we’re getting into that convention coming up shortly and we can’t do it without all the great sponsors and exhibitors that we have. So if you haven’t already, make sure you take the time over the next few days to our sponsors in the exhibition area. There’s a whole great amount of information there, so please make sure you check those guys out as well. You can do it after the awards tonight if you want, it’s up to you but there’ll be people there to answer your questions tomorrow.

By the way, we’ve seen a few things come through on our hashtag #RACGPAwards, so please make sure you’re sharing some of your photos and commenting on them and continuing to chat in the chat box. It’s very important that you stay connected in this weird and wonderful time.

I want to move on because it’s time because it’s time for our Future Leaders President’s Medal. Our leaders are what shape us and help position us so every year participants in the RACGP’s Future Leaders Program work on leadership in general practice. The quality of activities, contributions and projects is increasing year on year with greater diversity in participation giving rise to new and innovative ideas. The RACGP Future Leaders President’s Medal was approved in 2019 as an annual perpetual award.

The medal recognises an individual who is most likely to contribute to the leadership of the RACGP or a leader in general practice into the future.

It’s a great pleasure to announce that the 2020 recipient of the Future Leaders President’s Medal is Dr Kerry Summerscales.

Dr Kerry Summerscales began her journey of leadership in medicine by commencing the RACGP Future Leaders Program. At a local level, she has created a culture of accessibility to a comprehensive veteran’s health program. Her decades of Army service was instrumental in her development of an environment which was familiar and lessened the anxiety and fear for veterans to seek healthcare and for them to open up about long-standing concerns.

Kerry was selected for her relentless enthusiasm in advocating for military veterans health. She is committed to advancing her ability to implement health strategies across the population more broadly, and we expect to see her become a more public figure within RACGP in the coming years.

I’d now like to welcome Kerry to accept this award.

Kerry: Thank you very much for the honour of selecting me for the President’s Medal for the 2020 Future Leaders Program. It wasn’t something I expected and certainly something I see as an honour.

There were so many projects that had so much potential and were doing so well and are really needed, so it was really quite an honour to be chosen from amongst an amazing group of people and projects.

As many would know my projects about veteran’s health and promoting it amongst GPs and the general practice community. As a veteran myself, and someone who sees increasingly more veteran’s, it’s about 50-60% of my patient load is now veterans, which I love. I realise now that I’ve got out of the service, I’m essentially doing the same job, and I just get to wear a pretty dress while doing it. But’s it’s an important cultural and health area that does need to be looked at. So, I’m glad I’ve been able to push this forward and get some information out there and education dinners.

I must also really thank Michael Clements and National Faculty of Rural of which Michael is the Chair of, who has been able to provide me the opportunity to present this information. Michael is also a veteran and I’d also like to thank my mentor Brad Murphy who is a veteran himself. So we’ve got all three services represented, with myself for Army, Michael for Royal Australian Air force and Brad for Navy.

I hope that this does go further and I really do hope to promote veteran’s health but I want to thank the opportunity that this program has given me to really give me some information and a skill set that I wouldn’t have had beforehand, so thank you very much.

Warwick: Congratulations Kerry and thank you so much for the great work that you do.

21:05 – 24:15

Warwick: Our next group of awards are those delivered on a national level. The award finalists are the individual winners of the award from each of our state faculties with each state level winner going into the running for the National award.

The first up is GP Supervisor of the Year. The GP Supervisor of the Year award recognises the dedication of a GP who has acted as a role model, made significant steps in training and mentoring and has delivered registrar training.

Our 2020 finalists included:

• Dr Ronan Mackle – SA&NT
• Dr Danielle James – QLD
• Dr Aniello Iannuzzi – NSW&ACT
• Dr Terence Heng – VIC
• Dr Andrew Png – WA
• Dr Jim Berryman – TAS

It’s a great pleasure to announce that the 2020 recipient of the GP Supervisor of the Year award is Dr Jim Berryman.

Dr Jim Berryman is indefatigable in his commitment to training and supporting his General Practice colleagues, GP Registrars, University of Tasmania and John Flynn Program medical students, nursing, and reception staff.

Jim shows he cares by going the extra mile, supporting those under his guidance by making himself available after hours, and dedicating hours of extracurricular time to their advancement. His commitment of time is demonstrative of his devotion to caring for his registrars.

I’d now like to welcome Jim to accept this award.

Jim: I’m thankful and honoured to receive the National GP Supervisor of the Year award. I’ve been supervising for about 20 years and 10 in my own practice. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I had been nominated by my registrars and a whole bunch of new fellows. All of the fellows in my practice have been my registrars and with the current registrars and 10-11 new fellows, who are fantastic young doctors working in my practice.

I’d have to say that the biggest reward for me in receiving this award is the registrars and new fellows themselves and launching their general practice careers. It’s always been a pleasure and honour to be involved in their training. So thank you to my registrars and new fellows and to the RACGP for this award.

Warwick: Congratulations Jim and you can tell Jim really cares because he had his eye test chart in the background and I’m standing here going I can’t quite read that bottom line, I might have to get my contacts looked at. So thank you for that one as well Jim.

24:16 – 25:36

Warwick: Alright, our next award is the General Practitioner in Training of the Year award which recognises a registrar’s commitment to general practice and to learning, as well as their service to patients, practice, education and the local community. 

Our 2020 finalists included:

• Dr Anna Kearney – SA&NT
• Dr Kelly McIntosh – QLD
• Dr Josephine Guyer – NSW&ACT
• Dr Katherine Snow – VIC
• Dr Anastasia Isakova – WA

It’s a great pleasure to announce that the 2020 recipient of the General Practitioner in Training of the Year award is Dr Josephine Guyer.

Now, Dr Josephine Guyer is an outstanding candidate for the award of RACGP GP in training. Her contribution to both GP training and her community is significant. Drawing on her background as a registered nurse, general practice experience, cultural experience as a proud Wiradjuri (Wir – a – juri) women, and parent of three teenagers, Josie brings extraordinary strength and resilience to her training as work as a GP.

25:36 – 32:02

Warwick: So now moving onto the General Practice of the Year award. The RACGP General Practice of the Year Award recognises practices for their approach patient’s health and wellbeing.

Hang-on, I don’t think I’ve congratulated Dr Josephine enough. I zipped forward a little bit. Well done Dr Josephine, that’s a superb effort on winning that General Practitioner in Training of the Year award. I’m sure it came through a massive amount of effort on your behalf, so congratulations and very well done.

Alright, now I feel comfortable, I can move onto to the next award. These things are too important to brush on over.

So we have the 2019 Practice of the Year award. In a rarity, we actually have two winners for this award. The RACGP General Practice of the Year Award recognises practices for their approach patient’s health and wellbeing.

The award criteria takes into account a number of factors including services offered to patients, health promotion initiatives in place, provision of high quality care to patients and involvement in general practice training.

The 2019 General Practice of the Year award has two recipients who were due to be formally awarded at the 2020 Practice Owners National Conference earlier this year in May. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic the conference was postponed until June 2021, so it’s little later than planned, it’s a great honour to announce that the 2019 Practice of the Year award winners are Ashfield Country Practice in Queensland and Hawkins Medical Clinic in South Australia.

I’d firstly like to welcome Brad Murphy to accept this award on behalf of Ashfield Country Practice.

Brad: Hi guys, I’m Associate Professor Brad Murphy from Ashfield Country Practice in Bundaberg, Queensland. It’s a great honour to be receiving the GP Practice of the Year award, it’s a great acknowledgement of the fantastic work that the team have been able to do here, particularly building a practice around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and veteran health and the families for all.

Of course, we are a mainstream practice but they are our main focus in our little community. We’ve got a little practice 10 km’s out of town, that we look out the window and we can watch the cows and the kangaroos and the likes. Particularly the time where we are social distancing at least one adult kangaroo apart, it’s a good place to be.

It’s a great acknowledgement for the team here and I’m really glad to share that with them. I’m sorry that we’re not able to do this in person. It’s certainly been a very challenging year for all of us and I suppose it’s a time when the family of the practice is really important. We’ve certainly worked hard this year to make sure that we keep that culture and that family support both for the practice patients and the practice staff.

So I hope that at maybe GP21, we’ll all get a chance to catch up and share stories once again. I’d just like to say a very big thank you to the College for this award, it’s a great honour and we’ll be putting that trophy up very much front of the surgery, here to share that with all of our patients and remind the staff of their great work.

Thanks to all, bye now.

Warwick: And now I’d like to welcome Julie Tullet to accept this award on behalf of Hawkins Medical Clinic.

Julie:  I would like to acknowledge the RACGP Board and committee members, the incoming President Dr Karen Price and the past president Dr Harry Nespolon. Harry had a huge effect on the profile of GPs in Australia and is greatly missed. It’s is an honour to be joint winners of the 2019 Practice of the Year in conjunction with Ashfield Country Practice in Queensland.

In accepting our award, we build upon the history of our regional South Australian Clinic that started in 1947. We acknowledge the Boandik people as original inhabitants of the area and respect their elders past, present and future.

Hawkins Medical Clinic is situated in the beautiful blue lakes city of Mount Gambier in the Limestone Coast. It is a large regional general practice with 23 GPs and services a population of around 30,000 people. Our senior practice partner Dr Peter Charlton, well known to many has worked in the clinic for over 35 years which epitomises the true dedication of a rural GP. Peter is currently on long service leave so apologises that he is unable to accept this award himself today.

We have also be well supported by our long term practice manager Dale Beatty of 31 years and our dedicated staff again, many of which have been at the clinic for over 20 years. This isn’t the first time Hawkins has won an award. We’ve previously received the SA and NT practice of the year in 2002. We are also really excited that one of our partners, Dr Ronan Mackel has this year been awarded the SA and NT GP Supervisor of the Year award.

I can highly recommend life in the country with free parking, no commuting, the Coonawarra Wine Region on our door step and a very supportive community. Being 500 kilometres from our nearest tertiary hospital does have its challenges, but that is exactly what we as GPs are trained for – Specialists in life.

Thank you again to the RACGP and its support for our general practitioners Australia-wide. This award is a true reflection of all the hard work and dedication our staff, nurses and doctors have put into the clinic in order to provide the best possible cradle to grave service for our community.

32:03 – 32:52

Warwick: Congratulations Brad, Julie and all your practice staff for that achievement, that’s a superb. I’m sure there’s a lot of hard work that goes into that. Speaking of hard work I don’t know about you, I’m a bit parched. I think it’s time that we top up our beverages, get a few extra snacks and I want to check how those pizzas are going and see if Cameron’s taken any more shots of the night’s sky out there and see what’s going on. I’m going to have a quick visit to the social media stream and see what’s going on and we’re going to have a break for 10 minutes.

We’ve for a little video we want to show you what I think is important. I’m going to come back in the middle and have a chat so if you and fluid out and fluid in, do whatever you need to do. We’re going to be back at 10 minutes so let me just check my time check. Alright I’m 8.02pm here in Melbourne, so at 12 minutes past eight, we’re going to be back here, good to go, but I’ll be playing around with you in between so see you shortly.

32:53 – 35:58

RACGP Foundation Grant recipient’s and award winners acknowledgement video plays.

35:59 – 39:32

Warwick: Alright, it’s just us, I’ve snuck in. Thanks for hanging out with me while other people are getting their drinks and stuff. I thought I’d just pop back and have a bit of a chat. Thank you to everyone for being here and hope you’re having a great night.

We wanted to make sure we could celebrate. It’s too important to let these awards go past without celebrating them so the decision was made to do it virtually and we hope you’re getting some enjoyment out of it. We’re hoping that more people than ever have been able to be part of it because you’re doing it from the comfort of your own lounge room.

I haven’t seen pictures of that pizza yet, I’m a bit disappointed. But I did go to the socials and you guys are going off which is superb. It’s so great to see the hashtags out there, and don’t forget its #RACGPAwards on the social media of your choice. Twitter is pretty heavy but there’s a few people elsewhere and also on the event stream where you are, it’s lovely to see everybody chatting.

Let’s face it, it’s been a weird year hasn’t it? and I don’t think it’s going to get any, well we’re just shifting. Normal no longer exists, we just call it abnormal. 2020 the year of abnormal and you guys are in the front line which is not as much fun as you’d like it to be. Good on you for doing all the fabulous stuff that you do.

So just hot that social media and share some of the stuff that’s going on and out thoughts are with our Adelaide crew who are having their instant lockdown. Being in Melbourne we know what it’s like and it’s not as much fun as you’d like it to be but it’s so worthwhile so good on you Adelaide for going through it, we appreciate it, you’re doing very, very well indeed.

So being a GP in the country has got to be a whole lot of fun. There was some commentary before about the free parking, woohoo, that’s got to be a good thing and being a closer part of the community and they’re always after GPs. My mum lives in a small country town in Queensland, a little place called Tin Can Bay and she’s of that age where when we talk it is about what doctor appointment she’s up to. Whether it’s the cardiologist or whether it’s the blood pressure specialist or whoever it is and she keeps complaining it’s hard to get into the doctors up here, we have to wait three weeks to get an appointment. So if you’re looking for that rural retreat, and why wouldn’t you? Who’d want to live in the city anymore with all the traffic etc.

It’s interesting with traffic, I was talking to a friend the other day and they were complaining about the traffic having gotten worse again and here I am sitting in traffic getting upset and my observation is yeah but you are traffic by sitting in it. It’s a good thing not to be, don’t be traffic, don’t go out there, stay at home. The joy of staying home and working from home is that you don’t have to wear shoes. Even here tonight, I’m not wearing shoes.

I don’t know why I’m dressed up in black tie though. I do know, because it’s a formal awards and I want to celebrate it with you, but I’m the only one. Everyone else is just walking around in their active wear or polo shirts, but I’m prepared to do it for you. I will take that hit of wearing a very heavy woollen coat in a slightly air-conditioned room just to make sure you’re having a fun and exciting time and I do hope that you’re enjoying these awards, and I’m sure you would be.

It’s fantastic work by our recipients and as I said previously, don’t forget we’d love you to go and check out what’s going on in our sponsorship and areas so make sure that over the course of the conference coming up, go and have a chat with some of the sponsors, find out what are some of things you might need and have that conversation, as well as taking advantage of the digital show bag and all the great stuff that’s going on.

Alright, we’re going to come back in a couple of minute’s time and get ready to kick it off, but first something special for you. Let’s go.

39:33 – 42:38

RACGP Foundation Grant recipient’s and award winners acknowledgement video plays.

42:39 – 44:44

Warwick: Welcome back, I hope you’ve got your glasses full and your bowls of snacks done and you’ve eaten those pizzas, and done all the good gear you have to do.

We’re going to kick on to the awards but before we do, have you ever felt that something’s just not where it should be? You know when you’re sort of going, have I got my keys, somethings not right. There was something not right before, I knew that we had a video for Dr Josie who was the recipients of the GP in Training, but I pressed the wrong button and we didn’t play it. It’s too important not to play, so I’d like to play that video now from Dr Josie, so here’s the video.

Josie: I’d firstly like to thank the RACGP for this award, I’m very humbled to receive it. I really appreciate the opportunities I’ve been given to pursue a career in medicine. As an Aboriginal women and doctor, I acknowledge these opportunities were denied to generations of Aboriginal people that went before me.

I really want to encourage young Aboriginal people to consider a career in health and especially in medicine if it’s something that they’re passionate about. We need to build the presence of Aboriginal professionals in the healthcare workforce. This is essential in closing the disparity in health outcomes between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians.

I think if I can do it, you can do it too, and that’s my message. I really enjoy working in general practice. The variety of patients I see and the continuity of care I give make for a really rewarding career.

I’m looking forward to many years working as a GP once I gain my fellowship. I’m especially keen to engage with other Aboriginal students and trainees to support and mentor others the way I was by some amazing Aboriginal doctors and GPs around the country. This was integral in getting me through the challenges that came training as a doctor.

Once again, thank you so much to the College for this award and I hope I might inspire and encourage other as I receive it. Thank you.

Warwick: Yay for Dr Josie, I’m pleased we were able to do that.

44:45 – 47:14

Warwick: Alright, let’s get back into the swing of things and get onto the awards with the 2020 General Practice of the Year. So as you heard just before the break, the RACGP General Practice of the Year Award recognises practices for their approach patient’s health and wellbeing.

Our 2020 finalists included:

• Victor Medical Centre – SA&NT
• Nundah Village Family Practice – QLD
• YourGP@Crace – NSW&ACT
• Altona North Medical Group – VIC
• Fulham GP – WA
• Saunders Street Clinic - TAS

It’s a great pleasure to announce that the 2020 recipient of the General Practice of the Year award is the Saunders St Clinic in Wynyard, Tasmania. 

With a bright and electric community space, Saunders Street Practice is recognised as a high quality centre of health delivery and GP training. With the provision of a respiratory clinic on site during the COVID-19 cluster in Burnie, Tasmania earlier this year brought the practice to even greater local prominence.

I’d now like to welcome Jim Berryman to accept this award on behalf of Saunders St Clinic.

Jim: I’d like to acknowledge my fantastic team in Saunders Street Clinic in the small town in Northwest Tasmania. A town of about 5,000 people of a 15,000 catchment and it’s a wonderful privilege and an honour to have been awarded the national practice of the year.

10-11 years ago now I and my wife decided to set up a practice in this town and it started with about 300 patients and myself and now we’ve got 10 or 11 doctors and about 5,000 patients and we built our own fantastic surgery about 7-8 years ago now. We made the surgery so that it was a really nice place for people to work and a nice place for patients to come and we made it as non-clinical as we possibly could.

Thanks again to the RACGP and to our local mayor who nominated us and I’m honoured to receive this award on behalf of the practice. Thank you.

47:15 – 50:22

Warwick: It wouldn’t be 2020 if we didn’t have a little incident of some kind hey. So we just thought we’d string this out a little bit, keep you excited, keep you chatting and the joys of technology means that we get a bit of a hiccup but we’re back again and everybody is safe so thank you so much for your patience, I hope you took the opportunity to top up the beverages. Let’s get back on track, because what I want to do is close out our of the year awards.

So our final award is of course the 2020 RACGP General Practitioner of the Year Award and I’m thrilled to be able to present this one. This prestigious award is presented to a GP who has demonstrated outstanding commitment to the general practice profession, excellence in primary healthcare provision, and significant involvement in training and continuing professional development.

Our 2020 finalists included:

• Dr Bronwyn Carson – SA&NT
• Dr Emily Gordon – QLD
• Dr Duncan MacKinnon –NSW&ACT
• Dr Bernard Shiu – VIC
• Dr Ramya Raman – WA
• Dr John Ballantyne - TAS

It’s a great pleasure to announce after a slight delay that the 2020 recipient of the General Practitioner of the Year award is Dr Duncan MacKinnon.

Dr Duncan MacKinnon has been a rural GP in Bega for over 25 years. He is an outstanding family doctor who has committed himself to his local community and to the training of doctors over many years. Recently during the 2019/2020 bushfires and COVID-19 pandemic crisis, he showed his leadership as one of the local GPs and displayed his ability to work in partnership with all parts of his local community in a time of crisis. His practice is well known for being a place of kindness and a place where there is care for the most socially disadvantaged and marginalised. His practice models team work and has doctors, nurses and psychologists all working closely together to provide a high quality and holistic service to patients.

I’d now like to welcome Duncan to accept this award.

Duncan: It’s a real honour to be here tonight. I work with a really dedicated team of nurses, doctors and front office staff who’ve supported and facilitated the things we’ve achieved this year. It’s a real blessing to be able to be able to follow a vocation that you love and work in a community that appreciates your effort.

No GP works in isolation and without the support of the nurse of the year, my wife and our four children much would remain undone. I was talking to a colleague last week who shared an interesting reflection. She said that awards like this serve an important purpose and I hope that this will continue to be the case. Thank you.

Warwick: Congratulations Duncan on that fantastic award.

50:23 – 59:22

Warwick: I’d now like to introduce the Chair of RACGP Rural, Dr Michael Clements to present the RACGP Rural Awards.

Michael: Hello, my name is Dr Michael Clements and I was recently as Chair of the RACGP Rural Council. As Chair I get the privilege of leading a group of very inspiring doctors across the country who are representing their rural communities in various parts of Australia and we get together to talk about what we can do to support our members.

Hot topics for us at the moment are getting Rural generalism recognised by the AMC and that hopefully will lead to better pay recognition for some of our great rural doctors in the rural areas. Also, of course, it’s furthering the interests of our members who do not want to do rural generalism and are doing the bedrock work as rural GPs without engaging with their hospital service, so we’ve certainly got our work cut out for us as a rural faculty.

Please take the opportunity to engage with the rural council member from your region and feed up your issues and concerns so that we can act on your behalf.

One of my great privileges has been so far to actually call up some award winners. The RACGP Rural Awards recognise outstanding achievements and exceptional individuals for their contribution to rural general practice. Getting us started this evening is the Brian Williams award which is the highest accolade to be awarded by RACGP Rural.

The Brian Williams Award commemorates the late Dr Brian Williams, a rural GP, medical educator and Director of the WA Centre for Remote and Rural Medicine. Dr Williams was a staunch advocate for rural general practice and the need for rural GPs to provide support to their peers in order to advance rural general practice.

The aim of this award is to acknowledge medical practitioners whose mentoring and support enables rural GPs to safely dedicate themselves to their patients, their families and their communities.

It is my great pleasure to announce that the 2020 recipient of the Brian William Award is Dr Lorraine Hopkins.

Dr Lorraine Hopkins has spent most of her professional life as a Rural GP in Albany WA. Prior to settling in Albany where she has been a GP Obstetrician, she undertook GP training via the Western Australian Centre for Remote and Rural Medicine and its Rural Training Unit. WACRRM was at the time under the leadership of non-other than Dr Brian Williams the inspiration for this eponymous award.

It is against that backdrop that Lorraine has designed and delivered a skills-based workshop program to hundreds of rural and remote doctors as a Medical Educator for the Remote Vocational Training Scheme.

Lorraine is an outstanding Rural GP mentor and educator who has made a significant contribution to hundreds of Rural and Remote Doctors not only assisting them to gain fellowship qualifications but equipping them with skills needed to serve their communities. Congratulations Lorraine.

Our next rural award is the Rural GP in Training of the Year award. The Rural GP in Training of the Year award recognises an exceptional registrar who demonstrates a commitment to improve the health and wellbeing of communities in rural or remote Australia and is open to all general practice registrars who are enrolled in the Fellowship in Advanced Rural General Practice through a regional training organisation.

The award acknowledges those that have demonstrated both commitment to rural general practice, evidence of service to rural patients and evidence of commitment and service to the rural practice and community in which they work.

It is my great pleasure to announce that the 2020 recipient of the Rural GP in Training of the Year Award is Dr Emma Thompson.

Dr Emma Thompson is committed to rural practice having moved to the Shoalhaven area with her family several years ago where she was one of the first GP registrars to complete the Palliative Care Advanced Rural Skills Training program.

Emma has put her palliative care skills to excellent use in Milton where she established a palliative care unit at Milton Ulladulla Hospital. Being located in the Shoalhaven area, one of the hardest hit areas during the 2019/2020 bushfires, Emma’s commitment was tested further as she tirelessly worked to support the community.

Emma’s commitment goes beyond servicing her community as she is truly a part of her rural community. Congratulations Emma. 

Our next rural award is the Rural Medical Student Bursary award. The Rural Medical Student Bursary Award is awarded to a medical student who is a member of rural health students’ club at an Australian university who submits the best essay on the topic ‘The role of rural GPs in managing disasters such as pandemics, bushfires or floods.’

The essay is judged on the writer’s demonstrated understanding of rural general practice, evidence of innovative thinking and interest in a career in rural general practice. I very much enjoyed reading all of the applicant’s essays and it was very inspiring to see such a great understanding of rural general practice amongst all of the medical students that submitted a paper.

But in particular it is my great pleasure to announce that the 2020 recipient of the Rural Medical Student Bursary award is Mr Jean-Baptiste Philbert.

Jean-Baptiste is a John Flynn Scholar and went on his first placement in the Northern Territory attached to an aboriginal medical service, Anyinginyi (An-yin-gini).

During this he sat in on consultations with GPs as well as remote nurses and aboriginal health practitioners and would like to become a procedural rural GP with a particular focus on working with aboriginal populations. Congratulations Jean-Baptiste, I really enjoyed your essay and I do hope others will get the opportunity to do the same and you’ve made some great insight and big promises in that essay so we look forward to a long future from you in the RACGP Rural Faculty.

Our last rural award is the Community Project of the Year Award. The Community Project of the Year Award is open to a Fellowship in Advanced Rural General Practice recipient that has completed an innovative project which directly contributes to healthcare improvement in a rural or remote general practice and positively impacts the town’s community.

The award acknowledges projects that have identified a clear rural or remote community need, demonstrated engagement in the community and has demonstrated a contribution towards healthcare improvement in a rural or remote general practice.

It is my great pleasure to announce that the 2020 recipient of the Community Project of the Year award is Dr Anna Cunningham.

Dr Cunningham’s project was entitled Teachers Wellbeing Clinic. As a general practitioner working in the community of Mount Isa, Anna recognised a pattern of high presentation rates of teachers in distress, or with physical health complaints which were related to their mental health requiring support.

After consultation with local stakeholders, a pilot on-site teacher wellbeing clinic was established over two school terms in an attempt at addressing any health needs of teachers that were impacting their general health and specifically their mental health.

Overall, the clinic was able to engage and provide quality primary care to a small group of professionals who identified that it helped contribute to their general wellbeing. I really enjoyed reading that project and the outcomes. We know GPs provide the bulk of mental health care services across the country, even more so in the rural and remote areas where there might be reduced access to the specialist psychological and counselling services. Dr Cunningham’s project really was able to demonstrate a significant change in approach and also positive outcomes in this very needful group and in fact Mount Isa have been in contact with me since then asking about how to apply some of those learnings in other ways in general practice. So, congratulations Anna.

As chair of the RACGP Rural Council, it is my great honour to acknowledge this year’s RACGP Rural Faculty award winners and their significant contribution to rural general practice. Congratulations once again to our 2020 award winners Lorraine, Emma, Jean-Baptiste and Anna. 

Warwick: Thank you Michael and congratulations to all of the RACGP Rural award recipients. I’d now like to introduce the Deputy Chair and South Australia representative of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health faculty, Dr Kali Hayward to present their Faculty awards.

59:23 – 1:03:34

Kali: Hi, my name is Dr Kali Hayward and I am a Warnman women from the Martu nations and I’m an Aboriginal GP working at the Aboriginal family clinic in Noarlunga and I’m also the Deputy Chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Council for the RACGP. I’m here to introduce the award winning recipients for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health awards which I’m really excited about.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health awards recognise outstanding achievements and exceptional individuals for their contribution to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health general practice. The first of our faculty awards we’ll be acknowledging this evening is the Standing Strong Together award.

The Standing Strong Together award celebrates partnerships between GPs and communities and is presented each year to a Fellow, member of the RACGP or an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person who has contributed to improving health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

It is my great pleasure to announce the 2020 recipient of the Standing Strong Together Award is Dr Sarah Gleeson.

Dr Sarah Gleeson is a GP based in Goondiwindi, QLD. She is a rural GP with a passion for cradle to grave medicine. The positive impact Dr Gleeson has had on her community was impressive, the creation of a Aboriginal health worker role, the implementation of a cultural practice survey to educate all different types of staff and the continued provision of outreach services to neighbouring community, Boggabilla is incredible to see. Sarah has spent many years building rapport with the community of Boggabillia through her work with the Boggabilla Community Service to close the gap on Indigenous Health. She has a great understanding of the barriers faced by our first nation people accessing healthcare. Congratulations Sarah.

Our next award is the the Growing Strong Together award celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander GPs in training, who have an interest in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and has demonstrated a commitment to giving back to the community.

It is my great pleasure to announce the 2020 recipient of the Growing Strong Together Award is Dr Justin Hunter.

Dr Hunter is just starting in his registrar training and his ability to connect through culture continues to inspire him in all his pathways in medicine. Dr Hunter is one of many Aboriginal doctors in the Australian Navy and hopes that through mentorship he can positively increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Doctors not in the Defence Force but in the wider community. We look forward to seeing more from Dr Hunter as he moves forward throughout his Fellowship journey. Congratulations Justin.

Our final award is the Medical Student Bursary award. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Medical Student Bursary award is open to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander medical students currently studying at an Australian University and who has an interest in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and a career in general practice.

It is my great pleasure to announce the 2020 recipient of the Medical Student Bursary award is Ms Joanne Kaczmarek.

Ms Joanne Kaczmarek is a Torres Strait Islander medical student in her 3^rd year at James Cook University. From her significant background in the Australian Public service, which included diplomatic postings in Myanmar and Nauru, Joanne is looking forward to making a change in Indigenous and rural health.

Joanne is passionate about sharing her passion for health with the whole community, believing that emerging medical concepts like holistic care, individualised-medicine, social-determinates of health, patient-centred care and healing-at-home are more that trends in medicine, but are practices embedded in Indigenous cultures that can enhance the health of the whole community. We look forward to watching Joanne excel in her general practice journey. Congratulations Joanne.

As deputy chair and South Australian representative of the RACGP Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Council, it is my great honour to acknowledge this year’s award winners and their significant contribute to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health general practice.

Congratulations once again to our 2020 award winners Sarah, Justin and Joanne. Thank you

1:03:35 – 1:06:26

Warwick: Well done Kali and thank you so much.

Just to let you know, I want to set the record straight. Before when we had our little glitch we didn’t head down to the pub. We were focused on getting back online, but we do appreciate some of those jokes, they were hilarious, so maybe we’ll throw a few more jokes around at the end of it.

I want to move on now to the RACGP Foundation awards. The RACGP Foundation has been awarding grants, awards and scholarships for more than 50 years. We graciously thank our funding partners joining us in investing in GPs and GP registrars to build general practice research evidence.

The following awards from RACGP Foundation and Research are acknowledging the 2019 winners who were determined following GP19 held in Adelaide in October 2019.

The Best General Practice Research Article (AJGP award) recognises research articles that have appeared in AJGP in the previous year showcasing significant general practice research. The 2019 recipient is Dr Grace Kim for her article entitled “The CRISP-Q study: Communicating the risks and benefits of colorectal cancer screening” which appeared in AJGP, Volume 47, Issue 3, March 2018. Congratulations Grace.

The 2019 Alan Chancellor Award was awarded to Dr Rita McMorrow for her project presentation on Does r-CGM affect health service utilisation. Congratulations Rita.

The 2019 Peter Mudge medal was awarded to Associate Professor Jo-Anne Manski-Nankervis for her project presentation on Simulation of a tool for antibiotic prescribing. Congratulations Jo-Anne.

The 2020 recipient of Best General Practice Research Article (AJGP award) is Dr Belinda O’Sullivan & Team for their article entitled “Factors related to rural general practitioners supervising general practice registrars in Australia: A national cross-sectional study” which appeared in AJGP, Volume 48, Issue 1-2, January – February 2019. Congratulations Belinda and team.

I’d now like to take a moment to acknowledge all the 2020 RACGP Foundation Grant recipients which you’ll see come up on screen. The RACGP Foundation awarded 16 grants this year which is a tremendous effort and we graciously thank our funding partners for helping to make these important research projects come to fruition.

1:06:27 – 1:09:30

RACGP Foundation Grant recipient’s and award winners acknowledgement video plays.

1:09:31 – 1:10:27

Warwick: Fantastic, thank you so much for joining us here this evening and a huge congratulations to all of the recipients.

Well that’s it and it was a very 2020, coverty kind of experience. Started off strong, a bit of a glitch in the middle but at we’re all rocking and rolling back on deck and looking forward to what the future has for us.

Thank you so much for interacting online. I’m sure GP20 is going to be a sensational event for those of you joining us for that and don’t forget to check out our sponsors and our partners there across the breadth of the app. You can do that over the weekend, you can do it later on tonight, whatever it is, whatever you need to do.

Thank you so much for being here. As you move forward, I like to think in these troubled times that we stay positive but test negative. Thank you so much for your company, you’ve been fantastic and I’ve been Warwick. See you later.