As clinicians, we develop over time.

We question, examine, order tests and interventions, and observe the result. We reflect and repeat. We appraise the evidence, discuss with colleagues and other disciplines, and add their skills to our armoury. We develop our own internal protocols, our “surgical sieve.” We experience failed interventions, adverse outcomes and success stories. As the years pass, we move towards excellence, and our instincts refine. Our internal alarm systems sharpen and we grow in wisdom. This is the exhausting, exhilarating, perpetual journey of the clinician.

These last twenty five years, I have undergone this same journey as an advocate and spokesperson for GPs. I am passionate about our foundational role in Australian health care and about improving the value and prestige of generalism. My experience has given me a both a clear vision for the future of general practice and the real-world tools needed to make it happen.

I became a practice owner shortly after achieving my FRACGP and simultaneously began my involvement with the RACGP as a GP Supervisor and OSCE examiner. In 2004 I was appointed  state based Assessment Coordinator before taking on a two year position as OSCE National Coordinator in 2009. In 2013 I became Deputy Chair for the NSW ACT Faculty and was more involved in the full range of Faculty based issues before taking on the role as Chair in October 2017. Over this time I have also worked for the School of Medicine at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney, where I am currently Head of General Practice. I have studied first hand health care systems in the UK, US, France, Scotland and Sweden and have had multiple opportunities to share these learnings with colleagues and students. I am a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and have chaired several Boards (all related to GP) including my local Division/Medicare Local/Primary Health Network and regional GP training organisation. I have just completed a PhD on implementation of CVD preventive care in real world general practice, which was inspired through my involvement in the Quality Improvement program of Australian Primary Care Collaboratives.

Many of us in general practice know what we don’t like. But good leadership requires more than that. A leader must know how to build what we do want. A leader must be able to generate solutions.

GPs currently stand between a tsunami of complex chronic disease and a state-based hospital system that is already not coping.. At the same time, Federal and State politicians have finally started to understand that it is impossible to keep funding a ‘sick-care” health system when the real benefits are gained from funding a true model of “healthcare”. The upshot is that funding to GP absolutely needs a review and transformation - and more critically an urgent injection of funding - diverted away from our “sick care” model.

This is a critical time. We need a leader who can ensure that we provide a strong GP voice so that it benefits both GPs and patients. We must engage robustly and relentlessly at the highest level of health policy. They must have the skills, experience and relationships to advocate STRONGLY for change, and they must provide solutions to the current crisis. In the words of our new health minister, Mark Butler, we need to provide a value based proposition as to why funding needs to change. We need to enable him to not just understand that a working model of preventive care is the foundation for the survival and revival of our health system but be willing to fight for more funding on our behalf.

I want the health care system to be better, but as a practicing GP I also understand the coalface of medicine - time pressure, mounting administrative tasks, a government that demands more administrative output for less funding, a country struggling with a mental health and chronic disease burden that GPs carry, usually without support or recognition. How, when GPs are so busy bailing water out of the boat, can we find the time, expertise and energy to plug the hole? How can a system that only rewards throughput deliver any improvement?

Most GPs understand what it is to know a patient and their family so well that when they present with a problem, we have a comprehensive understanding of the background, resources and challenges for that person, so we can take immediate, meaningful action. My long association with the RACGP means that I have deep knowledge and working relationship with the inside and outside of the organisation, including barriers to change. When I took on the role as Chair in 2017, it was with the specific goal of improving governance of RACGP and the value for members. Since then, I’ve contributed to significant internal change with increased emphasis on the needs of GP members and more assertive advocacy with the state and federal government. I am proud to see how the process of internal improvements has led to a complete transformation of our organisation to become Member centric. We are now in an IDEAL position to provide strong leadership and advocacy across Australia for GP