GP college celebrates 50 years: Murton takes a moment to reflect on RNZCGP achievements

“Pay parity for registrars puts us on the same footing as any other specialist qualification”

The RNZCGP is celebrating its 50th anniversary and will use the coming year to reflect on its achievements and those of its members.

In a video featured in the college newsletter, president Samantha Murton welcomes members to share their favourite stories from the past half-century.

“Part of it is celebrating ourselves, encouraging each other in what we have done and achieved,” Dr Murton tells New Zealand Doctor Rata Aotearoa.

The college will use its own social media channels, its magazine GP Voice and print material to share the stories it receives.

“We’ll also have a wrap-up at the end of the 50th year of all the different stories that have come out…so that people can see where we’ve gone from and to.”

The college’s office will feature a display of key milestones from the past five decades.

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Dr Murton began her tenure with the college as its first medical director and was voted in as president in December 2018, a moment she says is a personal highlight: “[It was] gratifying that people wanted me to be president.”

On achievements during her time as president, Dr Murton says adjusting to the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the things she found most tough because it involved telling the sector to move to virtual interactions overnight.

However, being able to hold a face-to-face college conference in Wellington during this time was also a big deal, Dr Murton says. “It was a really good buzz that we could get together for that conference.”

She describes as “massively successful” the work she did with then-medical director Bryan Betty during the pandemic to give general practice a voice in entities such as the Ministry of Health, Te Aka Whai Ora and Te Whatu Ora.

“There are a number of GPs now involved which has never been the case [before]…There were a few but not to the extent that we have now.”

Further, she says getting pay parity for GP registrars was “very good” for the sector.

“[It puts] us on the same footing as any other specialist qualification.”

But, given the organisation is an education provider, Dr Murton says the college’s teachers are incredibly important.

“[We value the] teachers and the work they do through the GP training programme,” she says. “But there’s still work to be done to increase our teaching cohort [and] to value all teaching that goes on in general practice.”

Looking ahead, Dr Murton recognises the need to constantly evolve with the times and says this means acknowledging that, while current issues will remain, much medical care can be carried out in the community.

“As the needs of the community change, the services and delivery need to change,” she says.

“Having a broadly scoped [vision] is really important.”

The RNZCGP formed in 1973 and now boasts 5000 members across Aotearoa.