Healthy North Coast excellence awards

THE 2025 Primary Care Excellence Awards brought together 175 primary health care professionals and sector partners to recognise the outstanding achievements and contributions to exemplary primary health care in Northern NSW at a ceremony last week.

The first awards ceremony held by Healthy North Coast since 2017 received 57 nominations across nine categories.

It included a tribute to respected Alstonville GP, the late Dr Michael Davis, acknowledging his significant contribution to general practice and community health.

Among the 2025 award recipients were Tracey Harris from Lismore GP Super Clinic / Lismore Urgent Care Clinic for Excellence in Practice Management, and Human Nature Adventure Therapy in Ballina for Excellence in Mental Health Delivery.

Alstonville’s Dr Monica Taylor, who won the Dr Michael Davis Award for Excellence in General Practice Leadership, thanked her team.

“We’ve developed a CQI [continuous quality improvement] program embedded into GP workflow, which has now become a standard of care. It helps us look at what we’re doing and how we can do it better,” Taylor said.

“I feel very lucky. I have an excellent team, so I feel like that makes my job very easy. And to be given an award named after Mike is very, very humbling.”

Healthy North Coast CEO Monika Wheeler said the awards highlighted the dedication of the local primary care workforce.

“These awards recognise the exceptional care being delivered by GPs, nurses, pharmacists, mental health and allied health professionals every day across our region,” Wheeler said.

“The nominees and recipients demonstrate the innovation, collaboration and commitment that underpin high-quality care on the North Coast.

“By celebrating outstanding achievements, we also help to inspire and retain our talented workforce that is so essential to the future of our communities.”

For more information on the awards, visit hnc.org.au/primary-health-care-excellence-awards-2025