Welcome to the November update and my last communique to you as Chair of the NSW&ACT Faculty. What a busy action-packed month it has been, and what a great moment in time to finish up my six-year term as NSW/ACT Faculty Chair and RACGP Director.
The highlight of the last four weeks has been the WONCA GP23 conference, which saw 4,295 delegates visit Sydney to connect in person and share their collective wisdom, knowledge and experiences relating to primary care, with colleagues from all over the world.
We launched our International event on Wednesday with some wonderfully successful general practice visits (with over 70 International GPs each visiting 2-4 general practices), alongside a full schedule of presentations and events throughout the following five days. I want to extend a special thank you to all the RACGP staff and volunteers who worked so hard to bring this event together and to all my GP and primary care colleagues who attended the conference. What a turnout! I thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many of you, and I hope that all who attended are feeling as inspired as I am about the future of General Practice both here and internationally. It was particularly wonderful filling up my “emotional tank”, and finally meeting up socially face-to-face with colleagues that I last saw pre-COVID-19.
Despite all the fun and learnings at WONCA, the GP Advocacy work hasn’t stopped! November has seen the continuation of scheduled meetings with Ministers that will help keep GP and patient needs at the top of the agenda. At the start of the month, the Executive Council and I met with Dr David Saliba, MP for Fairfield, to discuss the proposed Health Worker Study Subsidy and other areas of potential collaboration. The Executive Council also met with NSW Finance Minister Courtney Houssos together with, Ryan Park Minister for Health to discuss Payroll Tax, GP workforce scholarships and integrated models of care. In addition to this, I also met with Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant to reflect on all that we have achieved for public health these last few years and to officially hand over my role as the NSW GP voice to Dr Rebekah Hoffman, the incoming NSW/ACT Chair.
It is true to say that my term as Chair has been an absolute privilege and honour, but equally true to say it has been an emotional roller coaster ride! Who would have predicted that I would need to provide GP leadership through momentous disasters of drought, fires, floods, pandemics and now more fires! And that is not considering all the RACGP Board Governance work that has gone on behind the scenes to ensure our membership organisation is in safe hands and delivering support to all GPs in providing world-class healthcare to their communities in every corner of the country. But it is also not really goodbye but ‘see you soon’ as I will still be representing Sydney Inner West on the NSW&ACT Faculty Council.
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I am very pleased to leave you in the capable hands of Bek Hoffman as she steps into her role as Chair of the NSW & ACT Faculty from 24 November. Full of fantastic ideas and with a wealth of experience, she will make a wonderful Chair, and I am incredibly excited to see what the future holds. Welcome Bek!
For one last time, I hope that you find time for planned relaxation as well as work, and remember to take care of yourselves as the weather heats up.