Congratulations to our regional winners in RACGP awards

This year’s annual Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Queensland faculty awards has honoured multiple winners from the North Brisbane and Moreton Bay region.

The RACGP awards, announced in October, named Nundah Village Family Practice as Queensland General Practice of the Year and Dr Danielle James of Ashgrove Family Practice as GP Supervisor of the Year.

The awards recognise the value of GPs in the community and celebrate the achievements of exceptional individuals who go above and beyond to care for their patients.

Dr Danielle James of Ashgrove Family Practice, awarded GP Supervisor of the Year, has worked in the development, implementation and delivery of education to GP registrars, practice managers and supervisors. Dr James is also involved in community education through her work at Hummingbird House hospice, delivering paediatric palliative care.

Dr James said that one of the constants in her career has been her love of working as both an educator and a GP.

“I’ve been a supervisor for 18 years and have supervised more than 40 registrars in practice over that time.

“I have always been focussed on the importance of education with my patients; the better a patient’s health literacy, the more empowered they are in their health care.,” she said.

“I want to help registrars develop the art of practice. Any registrar can learn what’s in a textbook or for example, what the parameters for the diagnosis of diabetes are, but how do you engage and empower the patient when delivering that diagnosis?”

“An important aspect of good general practice is about how you make health issues clearer for the patient and assist them to come to decisions about their own healthcare,” Dr James said.

RACGP Acting President Associate Professor Ayman Shenouda said the awards highlight the importance of general practice for communities across Queensland.

“The Nundah Village Family Practice is the perfect example of a practice that seeks out every opportunity to improve the care and treatment of all patients.

“It is a young, modern and adaptive practice where GPs take part in regular in-house team training and professional development to ensure they stay ahead of curve. With a respiratory clinic next door, the practice has also done an outstanding job in relation to COVID-19 testing and screening,” Associate Professor Shenouda said.

Dr Anuj Gupta, Co-Director of Nundah Village Family Practice, said it was heartening to receive recognition as General Practice of the Year.

The practice has been serving the Nundah community for more than 70 years and Dr Gupta said the extent of that experience helped them to respond quickly as the pandemic began earlier this year.

“When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Australia in February, Nundah Village Family Practice decided not to close its doors to the community (and) started seeing patients in a marquee in the carpark.

“We set up the first respiratory clinic in Brisbane in the span of six days, established in close collaboration with the PHN, Aspen Medical and the Department of Health,” Dr Gupta said.

The PHN’s Primary Care Liaison team provides support to primary health care providers across the region, including Nundah Village Family Practice and Ashgrove Family Practice.