Nathan Kesteven became Chair of the Northern RIvers General Practice Network in 2017. This Chairman’s report outlines the current focus of the Network and his vision for the organisation in the coming year.
The Board meets every couple of months to further the aims of the Northern RIvers General Practice Network (NRGPN) and comprises myself, David Guest, Chris Mitchell, Lynn Davies and Katie Evans. We have been working and thinking about ways to improve our reach and offer something to the wider medical community, especially in this leaner world of primary health networks.
We see our primary aims as:
- facilitating communication within the GP community, as well as with the hospital, our specialist colleagues, allied health and our local communities,
- facilitating education and
- advocating for our members and general practice.
Our regular magazine, GPSpeak, is sent to all the GPs and specialists from the Tweed to the Clarence and to hospital doctors on the Gold Coast. It always contains great articles about a whole range of subjects for our education and enlightenment.
We have had a couple of meetings with some of the new specialists at Lismore Base about how to improve GP / specialist communication. Following these discussions we are looking at setting up a closed Facebook page similar to the highly successful, #GPDU.
North Coast GP Training like the NRGPN is no longer a government funded organisation. However, again like the NRGPN, it has some assets that could be used to improve general practice care in our area. The two organisations are in talks to see if they can work together towards this common goal.
We would love you to come to an information night to discuss the future direction of the NRGPN and get your feedback. This will be held at St Vincent’s Hospital Education Centre Lismore on 14 December at 7.00 p.m. immediately following the NRPGN’s Annual General Meeting at 6.30.
Finally to all members and readers of GPSpeak, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and take care on the roads over the summer break.
Nathan Kesteven
Chairman NRGPN, 2017
