The Changing Face of Rural Health

Thank you for attending the NZRGPN 2012 Conference!! With over 300 attendees the conference was well supported and, as always, was a wonderful chance for the rural community to connect!

The New Zealand Rural General Practice Network's conference returned to the South Island in 2012 when Queenstown hosted the rural health's annual showcase event from March 8-11 at the Millennium-Copthorne hotels.

The conference's theme, "The Changing Face of Rural Health", was designed to encompass innovations, developments, research, technology and trends in the sector. This included general topics such as the Rural Ranking Score, Rural Broadband Initiative, the Integrated Family Health Centre, the team approach to rural health, along with a host of CME accredited medical and clinical sessions, workshops and keynote sessions. For further details on what was on offer please refer to the conference programme. 

The conference hosted the gala launch of the Pat Farry Rural Education Trust fundraiser – a wine and art auction that was held on the Saturday night (March 10). The evening was a great success with over 200 people attending to dine, dance and bid the night away. The Pat Farry Trust were delighted with the outcomes of the evening and would like to give thanks to all those who attended and contributed to the evening and in turn the trust, in the memory of Pat.

The planned five kilometre and 10 kilometre fun run indeed turned out to be closer to the 6 1/2 and 13 kilometre mark - so congratulations to all of you who rose to the challenge and participated in the run! This event was so successful with over 40 willing entrants we are looking to run it again in 2013 so you can look forward to stepping up to the start line and run for fun!

Once again thank you for your support of the annual NZRGPN 2012 Conference, we look forward to seeing you in Rotoura in 2013.