As COORDINARE’s long-term Board Member and Chair of the Illawarra Shoalhaven Clinical Council, Nowra GP Dr Vicki McCartney (pictured) steps down from two positions she has held since COORDINARE’s inception, she recognises how much has been achieved as well as the challenges ahead. 

“Over the last 10 years we’ve grown and matured as an organisation and we’ve negotiated challenges and change, including the pandemic and natural disasters. But health is very complex and there's always more to do to improve the quality of health care,” said Dr McCartney. 

“One of the things I've delighted in chairing the Clinical Council is having this wonderful variety of people and giving them opportunity to work through problems that we're trying to find answers for and hear their perspectives.  

“The role as the Chair of the Clinical Council allows you to talk to people with a varied experience and knowledge and points of view that you may not have yourself. It's obviously a responsible position, but I think it's a position where the more you listen, the more value you get from doing the role,” she said. 

Dr McCartney has devoted 40 years to ‘making a lasting difference to the health of this wonderful and highly diverse community’ in her roles at COORDINARE and its predecessor Illawarra Shoalhaven Medicare Local (as Chair) and Shoalhaven Division of General Practice. 

“I initially got involved with Divisions of General Practice in 2009 because I could see a lot of the valuable things that could be done. General practice has moved from shorter and acute-based interactions with patients to more chronic illness and prevention. There is also the expanding role of practice nurses and strengthening and growing multidisciplinary team care,” said Dr McCartney. 

“When the Primary Health Networks were being planned, I was Chair of the Medicare Local and we could see the great potential of PHNs to improve health outcomes as we looked more broadly at health care in the community. We recognised primary health care is not just GP care, though GPs are obviously very important to it. Communication and coordination between primary care and other parts of the system is very important.  

She added: “One of COORDINARE’s challenges going forward is showcasing the benefits that exist when the Local Health District builds improved connections with local GPs and other primary health colleagues. By creating more effective relationships with hospitals and identifying where both primary and secondary health care services can contribute to avoid unnecessary hospitalisation, the outcome will be improved quality of life and cost-effective health care for our communities. 

“We need to make sure we're doing everything we can to have all our health professionals working at top of scope so that we can really give patients and communities value. And we need to continue to identify the needs for our workforce and to put in place strategies to attract, retain and support our workforce. 

“There's passion within COORDINARE to do even better and hopefully future Board members and members of the Clinical Council will really enjoy the interaction with other professionals as they continue to pursue opportunities to positively impact the health of our region. 

“Thank you to everyone involved in COORDINARE for giving me the opportunity to do this work for such a substantial period of time, the team has been wonderful to work with,” added Dr McCartney. 

COORDIINARE’s Chair Julie White expressed her gratitude for Dr McCartney's valuable input over the past decade.  

“Her commitment to our vision and purpose has benefitted our organisation, the PHN network more broadly and ultimately contributed to better health outcomes for our communities, 

“We value the continued strong contributions from our local health professionals and community in our governance and occasionally invite expressions of interest to join the GP-led Clinical Councils and Community Advisory Committees,” Ms White said.

COORDINARE's Clinical Councils bring together GPs, and other healthcare professionals to provide advice and insights that help shape COORDINARE's work and support improved health outcomes across the region. 

Hear Vicki's reflection here.

COORDINARE’s governance structure and current membership is outlined here.