What's in a name?

Almost one third (38) of the organisations previously known as Divisions of General Practice no longer have the word ‘Division' in their name. Calling oneself a 'Division' might have made sense in the early 1990s as the community equivalent of a hospital Division of Surgery, Division of Medicine etc, but does not reflect their current role and function, and can even be seen as divisive instead of integrating.

Twenty of these organisations have changed their name to ‘Network', reflecting their role in supporting general practices and linking with other health services and primary health care organisations in their region. It also reflects they are part of a larger network including State Based Organisations and the national body the Australian General Practice Network which led the name change in late 2006.

Others have adopted Association (5), Partners, Partnership, Alliance, and Connections, continuing the networking concept. Some have identified with geography eg. in Tasmania there are General Practice South, North and North West , and GP Down South in WA.

Reflecting their enduring identity as general practice organisations, the names of all but six still include ‘GP' or ‘general practice'. One of these has chosen to emphasise Rural Medicine (Mid North Division of Rural Medicine). One emphasises primary care (Perth Primary Care Network) and two (both in remote areas) chose primary health care (North & West Queensland Primary Health Care, and Central Australian Division of Primary Health Care). Others have gone for short and snappy names: RHealth and WentWest Ltd.

To see the full list, and keep up to date with name changes and amalgamations, go to <http://www.phcris.org.au/divisions/profiles>.