BOARD MEMBERS


Dr Peter Dobson
Chair

Dr Peter Dobson (MBBS)
Board Chair

Dr Dobson is a registered medical practitioner, working in the Sunshine Coast region for 20 years. 
A graduate of the University of New South Wales, Dr Dobson moved to the Sunshine Coast in 1989. He initially joined the Board of the Sunshine Coast Division of General Practice in 2002 because of what he perceived as a lack of voice that general practitioners had regarding their work environment.
Chair of the Division for 3 years, he has also served on the Board for the last 8 years as Chair of Governance, Finance and Audit, and Strategy Sub Committees. During his time as Chair, he has overseen a complete restructure of the Division and is keenly involved in the future development of the organisation.  
Dr Dobson spent considerable time in the Urology Clinic at the Nambour General Hospital at a time when there was a shortage of specialist services. This experience revealed that while excellent care was being carried out at both Nambour Hospital and in General Practice the co-ordination and understanding of each other’s capabilities and roles was lacking. The importance of having the patient as the focus became clear.
He was elected Chair of the Sunshine Coast Gympie Partnership Council which is funded under the Connecting Healthcare in Communities (CHIC) initiative which in had its inaugural meeting in February 2008.
Particularly relevant today, is the connectivity of individual general practitioners and the practices they work in with their general community and the wider medical work force. Gaining efficiencies in how and what general practitioners do is becoming increasingly important as their relative scarcity continues to be an issue. Reasons for this are many but the way Medicare works with fee for service as the main motivating source of income to General Practice needs to be examined; the aim being for better health outcomes for the community and improved working conditions within General Practice.


Contact Dr Dobson:  pdobson@scdgp.org.au


 

Dr Jonathan Harper
Dr Jonathan Harper (BMedSci, BMBS, MRCPsych, MRCGP, FRACGP)
Director and Member of the Governance Sub-Committee

DR Harper graduated from Nottingham University Medical School in 1999. Since then he has worked within the UK's NHS and also the Australian hospital system. His medical career began in mental health, gaining membership  of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 2006.  Shortly afterwards he decided that he really wanted to be a GP on the Sunshine Coast. In early 2008 he completed his GP training and moved permanently to Australia.  He currently works as a contracted GP at GPCare Medical Centre in Maroochydore. Jonathan was elected to the Board this year. He also serves on the Focus Advisory Council and its governance sub-committee. He believes a strong community of General Practitioners is vital to improve local services for patients.

Contact Dr Harper: jharper@scdgp.org.au


Dr Michelle Johnston

Dr Michelle Johnston (MBBS)
Director 

Dr Johnston has worked  as a GP on the Sunshine Coast for the past 12 years. She works at Montville and Landsborough, and enjoys the continuously varied challenges of semi-rural General Practice. In the past she has been involved with the RACGP in educating, examining and supporting registrars.  She has been on the SCDGP board for the past 8 years and in that time has contributed to the Youth Health Consortium, Governance and Strategy subcommittees, Newsletter and Co-ordination of LAGs (Local Area Groups) She would like to see General Practice consolidate its place at the centre of health care and for its value to be realised and strengthened.

Contact Dr Johnston: mjohnston@scdgp.org.au


Dr Neil Cradick

Dr Neil Cradick (BMedSci, MBBS,  MRCGP, FRACGP) 
Director, and Chair of the Governance Sub-Committee.

Dr Cradick is a Welsh-born, UK trained GP who graduated from the Nottingham Medical School in 1989.  After his arrival in Australia in 1992, Neil worked in the public hospital system before entering private practice in Toowoomba.  In 2001 he relocated to the Sunshine Coast and currently works in Buderim and Minyama.  He was elected to the Board in 2003.  Neil has been on the Governance sub committee since 2003 and is the current Chair. His interests within the Division are in; an eventual central electronic record, improving continuity of care and communication throughout the healthcare setting. Contact Dr Cradick:  ncradick@scdgp.org.au


Dr Scott Phipps

Dr Scott Phipps (MBBS, MHA, FACRRM, FACNEM)

Director and member Finance & Audit Sub-Committee.

Dr Phipps has recently left rural practice in Maleny after 27 years, now working at Kawana.  His experience spans general practice consulting, quality assurance and accreditation surveying, plus primary health care research. He joined the SCDGP Board in 1998 and has served as an executive member. He believes that the SCDGP needs to be relevant to the membership and to develop the flexibility to respond to the ever changing needs of general practice.

Contact Dr Phipps:  sphipps@scdgp.org.au


Mr Ian McPherson

Ian McPherson (B.Com, DFS (FP))
Independent Director, non medical director of the Board.

Mr McPherson has extensive business experience having spent the last 35 years specialising primarily in the areas of corporate governance, finance and marketing plus holding senior management roles both in Australia and overseas with QUF, National Australia and Metway Banks, Challenger and the Colonial Group in Hong Kong and SE Asia.

Contact Mr McPherson:  iangmcpherson@gmail.com