The opportunity to be involved in the localization of HealthPathways for the SpotOnHealth project has been not only a great privilege, but also a great way to continue one of my long-term career interests, namely the continuing improvement of systems and resources which aim to improve patient care, and assist General Practitioners, hospital doctors and allied health practitioners.
The importance of good communication and cooperation between both the General Practice community and hospital medical and other staff cannot be overstated, and HealthPathways aims for a similar plan of patient management for important health conditions. My own medical career of over 45 years has been diverse, with many years in Queensland Hospitals and medical administration, and about 18 years in General Practice.
I have been privileged to see the issues of communication and co-operation from “both sides of the fence” having been Medical Superintendent of the Mackay Base Hospital, and in Metro South, the first Medical Superintendent of the QEII Jubilee Hospital (1980-1988) and then the Executive Director Medical Services of the Mater Public Hospitals (Adults, Mothers and the then Children’s, from 1988-1999). As a Life Member of the RACGP, I was privileged to serve on the RACGP Qld Board for 12 years, first as Honorary Secretary, and later as the State Corlis Fellow, a position which was an advocate for General Practice and liaised with Universities, and training bodies, and acted as a mentor for General Practice trainees.
I have also served in the past on the Governing Councils of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (now the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute), the former Queensland Radium Institute, the UQ Medical Faculty Board, and more recently on the Queensland Health Radiation Advisory Council, and the Professional Services Review Panel of the Commonwealth Department of Health. In 2007, I was fortunate to be a member of a group of General Practitioner reviewing consultants to the 4th Edition of Professor John Murtagh’s textbook “General Practice”.
The improvement of medical record and clinical information systems has remained a keen interest, and this has included improvement of the referral process between community General Practice and Public Hospital Outpatient Services. The SpotOnHealth HealthPathways project, while not intended to be a textbook, or to be obligatory to use, or to tell General Practitioners how to do their job, gives an up-to-date Specialist and peer-reviewed guideline resource for good patient care. Our team hopes you will find SpotOnHealth HealthPathways to be of assistance in your important work.