The College of GPs has announced annual awards

17 July 2005

The College of GPs has announced its annual awards,

The College of GPs has announced its annual awards, presented at its Oration Ceremony during the annual conference in the Christchurch Convention Centre.

One of Christchurch’s tireless workers for family planning, Dr Sue Bagshaw, has been awarded Honorary Fellowship by the College of GPs.

The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners annually confers awards of distinction on individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the cause of the general practitioner or to the medical profession in general, and who need not be graduates of medicine.

Heading the list this year is Dr Bagshaw. The citation read.

Susan Nicola Bagshaw

MB BS 1974 Lond; MRCS Eng LRCP Lond 1974; FACSHP

CHRISTCHURCH

Sue Bagshaw started out in New Zealand as a biochemist in 1981, then became a medical officer at Student Health at Canterbury University the following year and has never looked back. She has become one of the country’s foremost specialists in sexual and adolescent health, highly respected by her colleagues and recognised internationally.

Sue has been innovative in developing the delivery of primary care to women, in her role as the manager of medical services for Family Planning Association, Southern Region from 1988 to 1998, and more recently to adolescents, with the establishment of the ‘198’ Youth Health Centre in Christchurch, where she was the inaugural chair of the Trust in 1993 and has been one of the medical officers since 1995. Along the way she also found time to be a medical officer at the Community Alcohol and Drug Clinic from 1984 to 1995.

Sue Bagshaw has always placed great importance on original research in primary care and has many publications. She is currently the Research Officer, NZFPA Southern Region. She has made a huge contribution to the education of undergraduates, GP registrars and GPs. From 1995 to 2002 she was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Otago in the Departments of Public Health and General Practice, and of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Paediatrics (Adolescence).

Despite her many positions and achievements, she remains down-to-earth, approachable and pragmatic.

Other awards conferred included:

Distinguished Fellowship

The Distinguished Fellowship is an award for exemplary and exceptional service to general practice that has not already been recognised or has been inadequately recognised by other means.

Paul Berridge

AUCKLAND

Paul Berridge has made an outstanding contribution both to general practice and to the aims and ideals of the College. Paul’s legacy to the College and the profession is perhaps most significant in the area of education and in particular the College’s Advanced Vocational Education programme.

Paul was a Video Reviewer for the Accreditation/AVE programme until this module was superseded.

As a Practice Visitor from 1998 to 2004, Paul brought great wisdom and integrity to the role. Always thorough and constructive in his feedback to all candidates, he was especially helpful where it was needed.

Paul was one of the College's inaugural AVE Facilitators, and his immense energy and dedication to this role were significant factors in the success of the scheme. He provided consistently excellent and constructive feedback to candidates on their consultation skills. Paul Berridge took a personal interest in each of his candidates and gave extraordinary time to candidates who struggled with the demands of attaining Fellowship. He never gave up on a candidate.

Wellington Faculty rep to Council from June 1988 to May 1990, Paul provided characteristically thoughtful and insightful contribution to Council debate. He retired at the end of last year.

John Anthony Birch

RAWENE

Tony Birch came to New Zealand in 1974, taking up the position of Medical Superintendent at Rawene Hospital in the Hokianga. Always an innovative leader in clinical practice, he has managed a superb service to that Special Area, with its high Maori population, immersing himself in their whanau.

Some of his many academic achievements include teaching at undergraduate and registrar levels, published research, video reviewing, accreditation practice visiting, Primex examining and College Orator. Memberships include Northland sub faculty Board, Board of Censors, Information Committee, and Board of Studies as Censor Accreditation and then Censor Examinations.

Totally dedicated to his work and family, Tony Birch is a very special GP.

Gregor David Coster

AUCKLAND

Gregor Coster has made a unique contribution to both the College and to New Zealand general practice over the last 25 years, not the least in his roles as both chair and deputy chair of the College.

Head of the Auckland University Department of General Practice for 10 years, Gregor increased the size of the department and developed the number of PhD students and the quality of the research output from NZ general practice.

He is currently Chair of the West Coast District Health Board and is a Director of PHARMAC. He has also been a Director of the Health Funding Authority, and a member of Counties Manukau District Health Board and the CMDHB Community and Public Health Committee.

Gregor Coster was instrumental in setting up the Institute for Rural Health which is making a contribution to the training and support of rural general practitioners.

He has written a number of commissioned reports for the Ministry of Health that have been influential in the setting of government policy and has recently received his PhD in Public Policy based on work examining the recent health reforms.

Gregor Coster has made a significant and unique contribution to general practice, the College and the New Zealand health sector. He deserves the recognition of being elected a distinguished fellow of the College.

David William Kerr

CHRISTCHURCH

David graduated from the University of Otago in 1973 and commenced in general practice in Christchurch in 1976. He was an early contributor to the Canterbury faculty of the College as its treasurer and later as Chair. Involved in research studies carried out within the Canterbury Faculty Research Committee, he was also a member of the Christchurch Medical and Accident Team from 1976 to 1987. He was a member of the organising committee (medical) of the Pacific Conference and World Veteran Games in 1982.

David Kerr enjoys the respect of his peers as a thinker and leader with high personal values and has the unusual gift of having an astute political and business mind. As the inaugural Chair of the Pegasus IPA, he played a key role in bringing together the GPs of Christchurch. His negotiating skills ensured that Pegasus enjoyed contracts with the Southern Regional Health Authority that enabled many innovations in the delivery of general practice in the region.

His achievements in Canterbury set the benchmark for the country. A member of the inaugural Health Advisory Committee of the Canterbury DHB, he continues to serve his colleagues as a medical advisor to the Medical Protection Society and serve the community in many other roles including Community Mental Health and Liaison for the National Marae

Jorgen Cort Trap Schousboe

CHRISTCHURCH

Jorgen is a Danish graduate who commenced practice in Christchurch suburb of Wainoni, one of the less wealthy areas of the city. With two partners he set up a model practice in modern, purpose-built rooms designed to deliver complete family medicine. He took a special interest in obstetrics and rapidly became one of the busiest GP-Obstetricians in the country.

From 1982-1991 he was a vocational teacher for the registrar training programme. Always at the forefront of new developments, he was an important contributor on the inaugural board of the trend-setting Christchurch After Hours Surgery, setting a new and much higher standard for general practice premises and service delivery. It became the springboard for the development of the Pegasus IPA that set a benchmark for IPA development throughout New Zealand.

Jorgen has been a truly innovative and influential force in the evolution of general practice in New Zealand.

Distinguished Service Award

The Distinguished Service Award is awarded to members who have made an outstanding contribution to the aims and work of the College. The contribution may be as an office bearer, committee member, academic or exemplary practitioner.

Margaret Moira Metherell

CHRISTCHURCH

You wouldn’t know it by looking at this slightly built retired windsurfer, but she has busted or waved on hundreds of Primex exam hopefuls for 16 years – probably a record. Her time on the Primex committee is marked by the evolution of the Clinical Skills examination into the high standard assessment that it is today.

She was a reviewer for the video consultations. Some may have passed because she was once their undergraduate tutor.(Do we need this sentence?) She has also served in several of the then unpaid Faculty Board roles, and had leadership roles where she has her practice.

She is an astute and caring GP, but her compassion is particularly seen in her many years as a DSAC doctor. Another taxing role was that of doctor to the young women in the former Kingsley Girl’s Home.

Amama Begum Thornley

CHRISTCHURCH

Amama is a partner at Christchurch South Health Centre, a large and innovative practice that has developed the concept of a stand alone IPA. Her practice has been a leader in new ideas and concepts within the small business model, has been budget holding for some years and used savings to confer advantages to the practice population.

Amama has been a GP teacher for over 10 years, well known for her caring and compassionate style, making registrars feel relaxed, valued and part of a team. She is intensely interested in the arts and literature and brings this with her in her teaching style, often encouraging her registrars to read and explore new and different concepts. Not scared of challenge she recently volunteered to be a ship’s doctor on a cruise around the Arctic Circle,

Amama Thornley has provided structure, availability and seniority in the DSAC organisation. Well respected by all her partners, colleagues and students alike she epitomises the qualities that define a great GP.

\Meritorious Service Award

The Meritorious Service Award is given to those non-GP qualified persons who have made an outstanding contribution to the College. The contribution may be, for example, as a long-standing employee, committee member, or in an academic position. Service to any organisation which may directly or indirectly benefit General Practice, medicine as a whole, or the health and welfare of the community, may be taken into account.

Susan Margaret Glennie

CHRISTCHURCH

Sue Glennie was the first practice nurse to serve on the board of a College faculty, in 1997, and she continues in that role to the present. With the other practice nurse representative on the Canterbury faculty board, through her experience in a local practice, and more recently through her role in the PHO, she has led the way in creating a greater understanding by GPs of the role of practice nurses, and of the value of the team in general practice. With her unfailing patience and good humour she continues to make an invaluable contribution to the functioning of the board.

Waveney Denise Grennell

CHRISTCHURCH

Waveney has been one of the two practice nurse representatives on the board of the Canterbury Faculty since 1997, after Karen Flegg and Ralph Wiles took up Waveney’s challenge in a Canterbury Practice Nurse report to the faculty AGM, which resulted in the initiative to get practice nurses onto faculty boards throughout the College.

From her role as a practice nurse, and also her other positions within both the College and the NZNO, she has provided invaluable input into the discussions and decision-making of the faculty board. She has been a consistent and sensible reminder to the GPs of the role of practice nurses and the strength of the primary care team in general practice.

Janet Mary Larsen

WELLINGTON

Jan Larsen joined the College staff part time in April 1989 , and has filled an ever-growing role until her appointment as Administration Manager in 1996, when she took over responsibility for most aspects of the accounting system and College computer systems.

Now as Administration and HR Manager, Jan turns her hand to anything, mothering staff and members through many trials and tribulations, arranging the engraving of College medals, the updating of the Honours Boards, helping out with Primex, guardian of the College museum and just recently was observed up a ladder removing a flickering fluorescent light tube above a staff member’s desk.

Instrumental in the development of the College database when it went live in 2001, Jan remains the expert. Although she reduced her hours in recent years to spend more time with her four grandchildren, her personal database holds much of the institutional memory of the College. After 15 years, she now looks forward to indulging her keen interest in music, lawn bowls and bridge.

Her contribution to the College has been immense.

Primex Award

This award recognises excellence in the General Practice Education Programme

The top candidate overall in 2004 was Dr Carol Elizabeth Lawton

Eric Elder Medal

President: The Eric Elder Medal.

This medal is awarded in honour of Dr Eric Elder an inspired rural GP who lived and worked in Tuatapere for nearly 60 years. Eric Elder provided the vision and energy to inspire his colleagues, the local Southland community and medical and other politicians to create a pilot in general practice vocational training. He is a role model for quality general practice and inspiration for those of us who attempt to follow his example.

The recipient of the Eric Elder Medal is keynote speaker, Dr Kieran Gerard Sweeney, a GP and Clinical Fellow at the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, England. Kieran presented his paper “Science and Society: Suffering and the self” on the first morning of the conference.

Peter Anyon Memorial Medal

Peter Anyon was a passionate GP, a consultant paediatrician, someone who took great pride in his profession. To Peter, general practice was the true heart of medicine – it dealt with people. His work, and that of GP anaesthetist friend Humphrey Rainey in the Hutt Valley in the 1970s led to the setting up of the current national training scheme run by the College.

Peter Anyon was also President of the College, and a decision to institute an annual Peter Anyon Memorial Address at the College Conference as recognition of his contribution to general practice was unanimously approved by the College council two years ago.

The recipient of the Peter Anyon Memorial Medal is Dr Shahrazad Majid Abdul-Ridha, of Christchurch. Her address will be on Saturday morning.

NZFP – Novartis Literary Award

The Novartis Literary Award has been awarded for many years for the best published paper in the New Zealand Family Physician of the preceding year.

Dr Steven Lillis (Waikato) for his paper entitled “Quality in general practice and involvement in teaching; is there an association?”

Oration

The Orator this year is Dr Niall Anthony Holland, a general practitioner at Gayhurst Medical Practice in Christchurch. A member of RNZCGP since 1986, he was Censor of New Developments from February 1993 to December 1994, then took on the role as Censor in Chief from January 1995, a position which he occupied for five years.

He is an experienced Assessment Visitor and currently does AVE assessment for the College. President in 2000-2001 he takes an active, thoughtful and helpful interest in major issues surrounding the work of the College.

ENDS

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