Annual Report 2011 - Sturt Fleurieu

Chairman’s ReportI am pleased to report that Sturt Fleurieu has continued to thrive. Most particularly, ourmove into the South East of South Australia appears to have been a resounding success.Practice recruitment has been most encouraging and an increase in registrar applicants,especially to our rural pathway, has paralleled that growth.minor issues emerging from our successful accreditationhave been taken care of also by both organisational staffand the Management Committee. Self assessment ofthe Management Committee has become routine andis a useful activity to keep, particularly me, alert. Riskmanagement is obviously pivotal to our ongoing successand we are in the process of following the staff in a fullreview of risk, risk appetite and contingency planning toshore up our capacity to continue to deliver at the high levelthat we pride ourselves on.A Special ThanksIn my report of 2010, I filled most of the pageacknowledging the coming and going of several boardmembers. With this we lost some experience andcorporate knowledge but in return we have gained newideas and a broader range of talents which have certainlybeen useful in 2011. After approximately a year on theSFGPET Management Committee, Daniel Cox who hadbeen nominated to join us by State Health resigned. I dowant to thank him for his interest and enthusiasm duringthat year and his willingness to acknowledge the issuesthat emerge from our dealings with State Health. A furthernomination from State Health was put forward and, whilstthe candidate was very well credentialed, a decision wasmade to defer taking new members on board pendingsome likely significant restructuring expected to occur in2012.2011 Highlights at Sturt FleurieuBefore exploring those issues, I do want to say that I ampleased to report that Sturt Fleurieu has continued to thrive.Most particularly, our move into the South East of SouthAustralia appears to have been a resounding success.Practice recruitment has been most encouraging and anincrease in registrar applicants, especially to our ruralpathway, has paralleled that growth. It is a great creditto our organisational staff that this has unfolded this wayas there were some significant obstacles in the formativemonths of this proposed expansion. During 2011, some4 Annual Report 2011Medicare LocalsIt is no secret that the Labour Government’s health agendacontinues to roll out and we will see in 2012 a numberof Medicare Locals born largely morphing out of thedivisions of general practice. As a result, many of thesedivisions will cease to exist and certainly it seems thatthey will all lose their Federal funding. For an organisationsuch as ours this presents some logistical challenges asfive of our member organisations are divisions of generalpractice. Hence we will, by necessity, have a change ofmembership. Likewise as we are one of only two generalpractice training organisations who remain as incorporatedassociations, we are looking long and hard at altering ourconstitution to form a company limited by guarantee. Thisis a work in progress and is planned for the end of 2012.An Incorporation Working Party has been set up from withinour Management Committee and legal assistance hasbeen engaged. Work will certainly have to be done to lookat exactly how our Management Committee will look in ayear’s time.PGPPPAt risk of overlapping with the CEO’s report I do feel theneed to mention the exceptional job that our staff havedone expanding the PGPPP program in the Sturt Fleurieuregion. PGPPP remains a fertile recruiting ground for GPtraining and the fact that this has been able to expand sorapidly is exceptional particularly when you compare usto other organisations interstate. The likelihood of furtherexpansion is imminent particularly as our team work toenhance the experience of the junior doctors beyonda placement into a real learning situation. Every goodexperience in general practice is likely to continue to assistin building a high quality and adequately manned GPworkforce.