New president of the College of GPs

Blenheim GP Dr Jim Vause sees his greatest challenge as continuing to improve the quality of general practice in the middle of continual change.

Dr Vause took over as president of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners at the annual meeting in Dunedin today from Island Bay (Wellington) GP Dr Helen Rodenburg. Dr Vause is the first president of the College with a Maori heritage, his whakapapa is through Kai Tahu and Kaiti Mamoe lines to the Otakou marae on the Otago Peninsula.

“GPs do a great job to maintain the quality of care in the face of major change. Our focus will be to support them and to keep improving that care despite the change."

At the College conference where Primary Health Organisations and their implementation have been a major topic, Dr Vause said "some of us are surrounded by mountains that are very difficult to scale or climb. But they will always need to be scaled and climbed. Sometimes,” he noted, “there is a nice easy way over the pass somewhere in the middle.

“We don't want to see everything as a totally insurmountable barrier to improvement.”

Born and bred in Wellington, Jim Vause graduated Otago in 1976, and his first five years in general practice were in Cromwell. He set up a new solo practice in Blenheim in 1985, which has since expanded to the four-doctor Redwoodtown Doctors. His deputy for the two-year term will be Rangiora GP Dr Lorna Martin, former chair of the College's Professional Development Committee.

ENDS

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