Ōpōtiki GP awarded top College honour at GP23

Dr Jo Scott-Jones, an Ōpōtiki -based GP and a strong advocate for rural health has been awarded Distinguished Fellowship of The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners at its annual conference in Auckland.

He has worked as a GP in Ōpōtiki, Bay of Plenty since 1992 and is a well-known and respected clinician and engaged teacher to the next generation of GPs and rural hospital doctors.

College President Dr Samantha Murton says, “Dr Scott-Jones is an inspiring and passionate GP, and I have admired his joy of general practice podcasts, which celebrate the joys of our role even when the job can be hard.

“His focus on equity within general practice, his rural medicine perspective and his teaching of new registrars means he can often see the bigger picture about how the many facets of the workforce can work collaboratively and provide the best patient care in a culturally safe manner.”

Dr Scott-Jones is a member of rural practice advocacy groups, he served as Chair of the Rural Health Alliance Aotearoa and has been a member of the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) working party on rural practice.

Since 2016, Dr Scott-Jones has been the Clinical Director for Pinnacle PHO, where he provides a voice for specialist general practitioners within the leadership team as well as on local, regional and national health organisations.

This year, five College Fellows 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 from 21-23 July in Auckland.