An ACRRM SLO’s Diary at RMA25
Dr Sara Fergusson - GPSA Director, Supervisor in NSW and member of ACRRM, RACGP, RVTS, RDAA and RDN - spoke with CEO, Bruce Argyle who captured her RMA25 conference experience.
"Everywhere you turn there’s someone you know or someone you want to get to know," Dr Sara Fergusson.
Day 1
After leaving home at 6am, a farm one hour from Mudgee, Sara drove five hours to Sydney to board the flight to Perth (time to watch The Correspondent), arriving at 7.30pm (not forgetting the three hour time difference), checking into the hotel, ready for the three day conference.
Sara is looking forward to gathering with rural medical professionals from across the country. When I ask “who in particular?”, she says “someone old, someone new, and as many supervisors as I can”. In Sara’s engaging manner, I will watch her do just that over the coming days.
A quick chat with Petrina Smith, the media manager with ACRRM, followed by Vimbay, a supervisor from Canberra. Sara highlights that she values the opportunity to network with colleagues and is particularly keen to support current and future supervisors in rural and remote locations.
In between orientation and meeting colleagues, we need to set time aside to set up the GPSA booth, favourably located in the centre of the exhibition hall, adjacent to ACRRM and opposite GPRA and the Department (and not too far from the coffee kiosk...).
On to the official opening – RMA 25 Welcome to Country, dancing and networking on the lawn. Sara spends time with someone ‘new’ to RMA25, Maria, a GP from Bathurst. Someone ‘old’ was Salma, Sara’s registrar from Cowra, NSW. There were many Supervisors to mingle with including James Best from Nowra and Jarrod Lenegan from WA. Sara was especially pleased to see Jarrod’s recent photos with his wife and two daughters, the youngest born this year.
Day 2
An early start - challenging with the 3 hour time change … this is Sara’s first time to WA and now has empathy for WA colleagues who talk of the jet lag post travel to the East coast.
A gentle jog through the park to the Swan river … followed by a quick breakfast (knowing that there will be plenty of food available for the day ahead). A phone call with her family and then on to the exhibition hall and the GPSA booth to see Carla and Bruce.
The plenary session, hosted by Norman Swan, a diehard supporter of RMA and fellow Scottish medical graduate, included speeches from the WA Health Minister, the President of ACRRM and the President of RDAA. A striking part of the plenary was the presentation by Dr Simon Quilty who spoke about a public health initiative to advocate for better housing in remote communities.
During the day the GPSA team welcomed dozens of people to our popular booth – highlighting the importance of networking as well as the interest in our Consultation Board Game and the GPSA Clinical Reasoning App. Then it was off downstairs to host a special GPSA lunch for Supervisors – around 150 attended. This was an opportunity to chat with many longstanding Supervisors and SLO’s and to feel a strong sense of interest and support for GPSA.
In talking with supervisors, they cited the importance of linking up with other supervisors, sharing stories and learning things from each other. There was a sense of pride in representing their communities and in making a difference through their practices.
In a final thought for the day, Sara shared that everywhere you turn there is someone you know and/or someone you want to get to know.
"The opportunities for new connections are encouraging and you have a great sense of being on the supervisor journey together."
Day 3
Sara’s third day at RMA25 begins early with a call to her remotely supervised registrar, then meeting up with fellow remote supervisors in the hotel foyer to attend the President’s breakfast. Discussion was broad with a focus on the challenges of recruitment and retention. For GPSA it highlighted the importance of supporting supervisors and practices with recruitment, retention, training and supporting supervisors and the practices.
“Supervision and support are the backbone of training future GP’s and RG’s.”
Final Day
The day began with catching up with Supervisors who were off to the Perth Park Run. A great way to meet people but time to run herself. Then it was back to the GPSA booth with lots of talk about the Awards Dinner the previous night. Sara was happy to see people she knew receiving Awards – GP registrars, Supervisors and Cultural educators and mentors.
In addition to recognising that even in Australia jet lag is real, Sara reflects that her key takeaways include seeing the genuine care and commitment to rural Australia by those present. Supervision underpins many of the presentations and conversations – underscoring the important role for GPSA. For 2026 we hope to highlight the value and importance of supervision at all levels.
"Supervision never stops."
We sincerely thank Sara for taking time to share her story here and for her insights at RMA 2025.
Bruce Argyle
Interim CEO