Sprogis re-elected to AGPN board
7th Sep 2011 Byron Kaye all articles by this author
DR
ARN Sprogis, the outspoken AGPN director who criticised the
organisation’s role in the $417 million Medicare Locals (ML) rollout,
has been re-elected to its board.
The NSW GP was voted in for another three-year stint, while the board position previously held by South Australia’s Dr Rod Pearce has been taken by Queenslander Dr John Kastrissios.
Dr Kastrissios is the chair of the Greater Metro South Brisbane Medicare Local and a director of General Practice Queensland, as well as being a member of the NEHTA Clinical Leads program and various Queensland Health advisory committees.
In the lead-up to the election Dr Sprogis was critical of the AGPN, suggesting it had so far failed to pressure the government effectively on primary care spending.
In his candidate statement, Dr Sprogis said that while he supported the ML program, AGPN “must do much more to encourage a significantly increased investment in the ML process in real time”.
“I don’t accept that the outcomes and resources negotiated to this point are sufficient to meet the needs of the ML process,” he wrote.
“For our communities to see real outcomes, greater government commitment is required.”
He also told Medical Observer that AGPN “should have argued, taken a much tougher line” to ensure the government built the ML network with the same “clear deliverables” as hospitals.
Dr Pearce was also critical of AGPN’s role in the ML program. His candidate statement supported the ML plan itself but he told MO he was concerned AGPN had been seen so far as a “mouthpiece for the government, rather than specifically putting forward what the grassroots GPs and grassroots divisions were saying”.
The AGPN declined to comment on board election matters other than confirming the election results.
The NSW GP was voted in for another three-year stint, while the board position previously held by South Australia’s Dr Rod Pearce has been taken by Queenslander Dr John Kastrissios.
Dr Kastrissios is the chair of the Greater Metro South Brisbane Medicare Local and a director of General Practice Queensland, as well as being a member of the NEHTA Clinical Leads program and various Queensland Health advisory committees.
In the lead-up to the election Dr Sprogis was critical of the AGPN, suggesting it had so far failed to pressure the government effectively on primary care spending.
In his candidate statement, Dr Sprogis said that while he supported the ML program, AGPN “must do much more to encourage a significantly increased investment in the ML process in real time”.
“I don’t accept that the outcomes and resources negotiated to this point are sufficient to meet the needs of the ML process,” he wrote.
“For our communities to see real outcomes, greater government commitment is required.”
He also told Medical Observer that AGPN “should have argued, taken a much tougher line” to ensure the government built the ML network with the same “clear deliverables” as hospitals.
Dr Pearce was also critical of AGPN’s role in the ML program. His candidate statement supported the ML plan itself but he told MO he was concerned AGPN had been seen so far as a “mouthpiece for the government, rather than specifically putting forward what the grassroots GPs and grassroots divisions were saying”.
The AGPN declined to comment on board election matters other than confirming the election results.
