Meet the new GP Supervision Australia chair

For the next 12 months, Queensland GP Dr Srishti Dutta will be at the helm of the peak body for general practice supervisors and training practices.

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Long-time GP supervisor Dr Srishti Dutta has taken on the role of General Practice Supervision Australia chair, with an eye to ensuring that the GP supervisor role remains viable into the future.  

After completing her basic medical training in India, Dr Dutta trained as a GP in the UK. 

“I had a fantastic supervisor [in the UK], his name was Dr Simon Cocksedge,” she told The Medical Republic.  

“He was also a lecturer at Manchester Uni and has written a book about holding relationships in general practice.  

“That one year of training as a registrar with him pretty much set the tone for the rest of my career.” 

Dr Cocksedge’s practice, which had a long tradition of taking on registrars, was what initially sparked Dr Dutta’s interested in teaching and training. 

“The values that drive what I do are whole-person care, person-centred care and community-based care,” she said.  

“Supervision has to be part of that, because there’s no other way to pass on the wisdom, the knowledge and the experience that GPs have on to the next generation.”  

The concept of having a legacy, she said, was important.  

Dr Dutta and her family moved to the semi-rural Samford area of Brisbane in 2014, and she has worked at the Warner Family Medical Practice in north Brisbane for the past seven years.  

Over her term as chair, which will last one year, Dr Dutta said she plans to advocate for further support for GP supervisors.  

“To draw a comparison, general practice is to the wider healthcare system what GP supervisors are to teaching and training,” she said.  

“I definitely feel that further support within the framework of other general practice organisations and how we structure things for the future of general practice training is going to be something that we are looking at.”  

She also committed to working constructively with her counterpart at GP Registrars Australia, Dr Karyn Matterson. 

Dr Dutta replaces Townsville GP Dr Kevin Arlett as GPSA chair. Dr Arlett’s predecessor was current RACGP president Dr Nicole Higgins.