By Prof Philip Morris, GCMA President

   Dear Colleagues,

  A new decade brings new challenges and opportunities.  I wish you all the best for 2010.  The GCMA is

  looking to have a power packed program this year.  The Thursday evening general meetings return in February at the Southport Yacht Club.  This year the meetings will be held every month (apart from December).  We have our Annual General Meeting in March at the Southport Golf Club.  In addition to the AGM meeting formalities an exciting program of entertainment and a unique guest speaker is planned.  This meeting is also designed as an important social gathering for members and their partners.  I hope the AGM will usher in a new GCMA President to drive the Association on to bigger and better things.  The Health Expo will return again at the Robina Community Centre in October.  An end of year social event is planned to build on the successful Broadwater cruise on the tall ship ‘Sir Henry Morgan’ that 70 of our members and their families enjoyed last November. 

We are always looking for quality medical content copy for brief articles for the Medical Link.  I would encourage GCMA members to consider writing editorial type articles on areas of the member’s medical interest or clinical expertise, or on topics of public interest to members and the wider community.  The Medical Link has the services of a journalist who can assist members in writing articles if needed.  At the end of each editorial piece the author’s name, practice or business address, and contact numbers and email address will be published for the information of readers of the Medical Link.  Please contact the GCMA business manager, John Campbell, for further information.

We understand that Queensland Health is negotiating with the Healthscope company to build a private hospital within the campus of the Parklands University Hospital.  Details of the scope and services to be provided by the private hospital are sketchy at the moment.  The fate of the Healthscope run Allamanda hospital is also unclear.  One of the concerns of the GCMA has been the ready availability of private consulting suites around the Parklands Hospital so that private VMOs can continue to service patients in the public Parklands Hospital.  We hope that a private hospital development will provide consulting suites for private doctors to be within walking distance of patients in the public and private hospitals there. 

The GCMA has now established graduation prizes for top medical students at Griffith and Bond Medical Schools.  With the prize for the top nurse in clinical skills given at the graduation of the Griffith School of Nursing this brings to three the number of annual prizes the GCMA provides to emerging talented colleagues in the health professions.  The GCMA is progressing the planning of the inaugural Gold Coast Medical Conference in 2011.  The conference planning committee will begin work early in 2010.

I look forward to meeting members at our February general meeting and at our March Annual General Meeting.

Philip Morris.