Justin Butcher discusses that fresh thinking has a place in primary care. New ideas matter. Challenge can be healthy. But primary care is too important to be reduced to branding, slogans, or simplistic claims about what should replace what.

Rising fuel prices are already creating extra pressure for rural general practice, affecting everything from travel and PRIME callouts to supply costs and patient access. Our clinical director, Dr Jo Scott-Jones recently spoke to RNZ about what rural GPs are seeing on the ground, including concerns about transport, stock and the added cost of getting care.

General Practice New Zealand (GPNZ) is calling for enforceable national standards to strengthen the security of digital systems that underpin primary care. The recommendations are outlined in a new position paper, Prevention is protection: Securing digital primary care for the decade ahead, released today.

A new Journal of Primary Health Care article from the RNZCGP’s Your Work Counts project has quantified what general practice teams have long known: a large share of GP work happens outside the consultation room.

We’re proud to celebrate Dr Brendon Eade and Dr Sarah Callaghan, who are among 12 GPs recognised with the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners Community Service Medal for their outstanding contributions to community health.

Pinnacle welcomes today’s announcement from the Minister of Health at GP25 as a strong sign that primary care – the cornerstone of a robust health system – is finally receiving the focus it has long deserved.

Pinnacle has released a climate change position statement, acknowledging the urgent threat climate change poses to health and wellbeing across our communities.

A group of new graduate nurses recently attended an orientation day as part of Pinnacle’s longstanding nurse graduate programme, a unique initiative designed to support and strengthen the primary care nursing workforce.

Pinnacle clinical director Jo Scott-Jones has been appointed an Honorary Associate Professor in the Division of Health at the University of Waikato for the leadership he has shown in rural health.

With the annual increase in funding for general practices falling well short of expectations, it’s difficult not to be cynical about the future of primary healthcare in Aotearoa New Zealand.