Irish College of GPs celebrates 40th anniversary with book launch, honorary memberships, radio ad and major European conference.
In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the Irish College of GPs held a series of special events on Friday, 27 September at the Convention Centre, Dublin.
Its National Conference 2024, with the theme “Curiosity, Creativity & Clinical Care”, is being run in conjunction with the prestigious WONCA Europe 3-day conference with over 2,000 GPs from all over Europe in attendance.
New Book about the History of the College
The College was founded in 1984, establishing an Irish Medical College for General Practice, called The Irish College of General Practitioners. Earlier this year, the College rebranded with a new logo representing general practice at the core of patient care. Before 1984, GPs in Ireland were members of the Royal College of General Practitioners, based in the UK.
The new book, written by Michael Hanna for the College, called ‘Irish General Practice: The Long Story’, was launched by former College President Prof. Tom O’Dowd.
Honorary Memberships and Awards
The College recognised the significant roles of Mr. Fionán O’Cuinneagáin, (foundation CEO), Dr Colm Henry (HSE Chief Clinical Officer), Dr Nazrila Hairizan Nasir, Deputy Clinical Director of MintFM (the College’s Malaysian Training Programme) and Dr. Mike Ryan (WHO), awarding each an Honorary Membership of the College. All are being recognized for the significant contributions they have made to health and patient care and the development of the College. (Dr Ryan will receive his Award in abstentia).
Dr Michael Boland Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in General Practice
The inaugural Dr. Michael Boland Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Dr. Joe Gallagher at the Opening Ceremony on Wednesday evening (25th September). This is awarded to a College member who in the opinion of the Board, has rendered outstanding service in the promotion of the objectives of the College, either by individual patient care, organisation, education, research, or other means.
New Building
The College has announced that it intends to move from its current home in Lincoln Place in Dublin 2 to a bigger building to facilitate its growth for members, trainees and staff. With the transfer of training administration to the College from the HSE, the rapid growth in trainee numbers and increase in education delivery, the College has experienced a 3-fold increase in staff, and a greater advocacy role for patients.
National Radio Ad
To publicise the benefits of general practice, a national radio ad campaign is running for 3 weeks in September across RTE Radio 1, Newstalk and Today FM, to promote the specialty of general practice and its key role in providing healthcare at different stages of life.
The Chair of the Board of the Irish College of GPs, Dr Deirdre Collins, said: “We are delighted to announce these significant developments in the growth of the College as we celebrate our 40th anniversary. We also recognise the huge contribution of members and staff in placing the College in such a strong position to grow into the future. We are a young College but we have a major leadership role in the development of general practice in the Irish health service.”
The President of the Irish College of GPs, Dr Pat Durkan, said: “The celebration of our 40th anniversary is a wonderful opportunity to acknowledge the huge contribution of our founding members, and our GP leaders, in the development and growth of the College over the past 4 decades. The College has over 4,400 members, and over 1,100 GPs in training all over the country. Every day, thousands of patients see their GPs for continuity of care for a huge range of chronic and acute illnesses. These numbers reflect that GPs are at the forefront of the delivery of healthcare in Ireland.”
The CEO of the College, Mr Fintan Foy added “We are delighted to be hosting WONCA Europe, with over 2,000 European family doctors and academics here in Ireland this year, and the publication of the history of our College reminds us all how much we have achieved in the past 40 years. This week allows us to celebrate that success with our members, trainees and staff.”
ENDS
Media interviews and Photos available on request.
MEDIA QUERIES – Aileen O’Meara, Communications Consultant, Irish College of GPs. Tel. 01 2542984 / 087 2239830. Email: media@icgp.ie