The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners

This draft is the product of considerable effort over the previous five years. There has been a very comprehensive consultation and rules development process. It is appropriate to briefly review this, and to acknowledge the many individuals and organisations who have made such valuable contributions.

The review of the constitution was initiated by Council in 2005. It progressed with the appointment of the Constitution Review Group, chaired by Graham Nahkies, and the publication of their report in December 2009.  To a very large extent the Board are putting into Rules the ideas described in that document, and in particular their recommendations outlined in the section on Governance.

The Rules development has also been informed by the feedback received after the Review document was sent to members via ePulse on 22 September 2009.

I must acknowledge the contribution that Te Akoranga a Maui made in their submission. Again, I am pleased that almost all of their four pages of recommendations have been incorporated in this version.

Karen Thomas (CEO) and I travelled extensively earlier this year discussing the proposals with members. We attended faculty and sub faculty meetings in Queenstown, Christchurch, Wellington, Napier, New Plymouth, Hamilton, Auckland and Whangarei, met with Te Akoranga a Maui in Auckland, and with both the rural faculty and rural hospital doctors group by teleconference. Those present were supportive of the proposed changes, and we have incorporated changes suggested at those meetings in this draft.

Our work has also been influenced by David Bassett of BrandNew who provided valuable feedback on member perceptions. Terry Kilmister of BoardWorks International facilitated a workshop with the Executive of the Council, and offered advice based on 30 years of guiding both for profit and not for profit organisations as they review governance and management structures. Paul Michalik provided valuable legal advice. In addition to ensuring the document met legal requirements he has constantly sought balance between the permissions granted to the Board to allow effective and efficient governance on the one hand, and the need to protect the rights of the members on the other.

We have had the draft Rules reviewed by the Write Group to translate to a Plain English version to make the Rules more accessible to members.

I also would like to commend Niall Holland and the Presidents group for their thoughtful contributions. They made 93 recommendations, and all but one have been incorporated in the final draft, which has been endorsed by the President’s group. “…an excellent document that is a huge leap ahead of any of its predecessors and which will provide a sound foundation for the future development of the College” Niall Holland.

Finally I want to acknowledge the contribution of College staff over the past few years, and in particular the work of Karen Thomas, Helen Colebrook, Andrew Stenson and Cathy Webber, as well as the deliberations and discussions over many months by the Board.

Harry Pert
RNZCGP President