Dr Jeff Lowe awarded Distinguished Fellowship at GP23

Wellington-based specialist GP Dr Jeff Lowe, who has over 30 years' experience and is a trusted and sought after spokesperson for general practice, has been recognised with Distinguished Fellowship of The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners.

Along with building a reputation as a caring and competent GP in his local community, Dr Lowe has always had a desire to offer support and guidance to his peers and colleagues across general practice and primary care.

He spent seven years as Chair of General Practice New Zealand (GPNZ), an organisation which aims to foster trust and collaboration between Primary Health Organisations (PHOs) across Aotearoa New Zealand. This expertise has been recognised with his appointment to the Board of Te Whatu Ora –where he is the only general practitioner currently on the Board.

College President Dr Samantha Murton says, “As a fellow Wellington-based GP, I have known Jeff for many years and have sat with him in many meetings advocating for our specialist workforce and the continual improvement of patient care in the community.

“His calm demeanour paired with his knowledge and experience of the key role specialist GPs and their hard-working teams have on the lives of millions of New Zealanders makes him a deserving recipient of this award.”

When it comes to workforce innovation, Dr Lowe set up Karori Medical Centre as the first Health Care Home (HCH) practice in 2014. This proactive, team-based approach to healthcare is designed to improve the quality and sustainability of services and focus on the individual needs of a patient and their whanau – recognising a one-size-fits-all approach isn’t always best. Health Care Homes has now expanded to encompass more than 200 practices nationally.

This year, five College members received Distinguished Fellowship, which is awarded for outstanding service to the College or Division of Rural Hospital Medicine’s work and for making a sustained contribution to general practice, medicine, or the health and wellbeing of the community.

GP23: the Conference for General Practice is being held in Auckland from 21-23 July.