Ellen McIntyre, PHC RIS

I take great pleasure in introducing the Primary Health Care Research and Information Service (PHC RIS) Annual Report 2010. This year has been eventful in many ways; not least for Associate Professor Libby Kalucy’s retirement as Director in June. When someone so well known, liked and knowledgeable about the many facets of the primary health care sector leaves, a large gap appears. Thankfully, PHC RIS still benefits from Libby’s wisdom as she continues to mentor and consult on certain projects.

As a knowledge exchange organisation, PHC RIS is striding forward in many ways. What continues to encourage and delight us is the willingness of the sector to work with us in sharing and exchanging information and knowledge. We were thrilled with the record number of people who submitted conference abstracts, peer reviewed these, presented and chaired sessions and joined in the many discussions that extended the information that was presented.

Our newsletter editorial team has been strongly supported by those funded through the PHCRED Strategy with articles about their activities and achievements. Many primary health care organisations have also contributed articles of interest for our large, diverse readership.

Our website continues to grow in content but also in how it is used. Again we are impressed with the engagement of our stakeholders. The Divisions Network has provided much data and information that has enabled us to produce a range of resources and displays, such as Fast Facts about Divisions, the Divisions Mapping tool, Divisions Key Characteristics, and the Divisions Benchmarking tool.

Our on-line Roadmap Of Australian primary health care Research (ROAR) has also expanded due to the support of our researchers, boasting a comprehensive collection of Australian primary health care research projects, researcher profiles, research organisations and funding opportunities. Its increasing use encourages us to work at improving this resource more.

This report contains many more examples of how PHC RIS and the primary health care (PHC) sector have worked together to help each other do better. Enjoy the read.

We look forward to continuing our collaborations with you and your organisation in the future.