WENESDAY, 2 OCTOBER, 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Photo 1: Dr Laura Roberts, cluster quality lead and Eric Blyth, practice manager at Monifieth Health Centre with the RCGP Scotland/Scottish Government Cluster Quality Improvement Award. Photo 2: Dr Elaine McNaughton with the Alastair Donald Award. 

Angus medical professionals receive national awards

Two Angus GPs and the South West Angus GP Cluster took home awards from the Royal College of General Practitioner (RCGP) Scotland’s ceremony in Edinburgh.   

The annual awards ceremony recognises and honours exceptional work by medical professionals across Scotland and reflects the ever-changing face of general practice in Scotland. 

Dr Elaine McNaughton, who has practiced as a GP in Carnoustie for 30 years, was awarded the prestigious Alastair Donald Award which recognises outstanding achievement in the areas of service delivery, education, research and wider contribution to society. 

The RCGP recognised Dr McNaughton as being outstanding in local healthcare design, influencing the development of a regional diagnostic centre and working to merge the local practices in Carnoustie into a purpose-built centre with allied health care teams readily available.

Dr McNaughton has been instrumental in the education of GPs for two decades and has worked with NHS Education for Scotland to inspire, influence and train the GPs of the future. During her career she has been, and remains, an active member of RCGP at local, Scotland and UK levels, most recently as RCGP Scotland Deputy Chair for Policy.

Dr Alistair Acheson was awarded Fellowship of the RCGP. He has worked as a GP partner for 29 years in Scotland, many of these in Arbroath and also works in the Tayside GP out-of-hours service. Dr Acheson is known as a committed generalist involved in all aspects of holistic care in the community and is a founder member of British Association of Immediate Care Scotland (BASICS).

The South West Angus Cluster was presented with the RCGP Scotland/Scottish Government Cluster Quality Improvement Award 2019. It was collected by Dr Laura Roberts, cluster quality lead, and Eric Blyth, practice manager at Monifieth Health Centre. The award aims to encourage clusters in Scotland to showcase innovative ways of working and local quality improvement which embody the objectives of realistic medicine. 

The South West Angus Cluster recognised a high proportion of low level mental health issues within their patient population which required longer GP appointments. They brought third sector organisations such as Penumbra and Parent2parent into the practice, allowing access for children and adults to almost instant one-to-one support and help.

Congratulating the winners, Dr Alison Clement, associate medical director for Angus Health and Social Care Partnership, said, “Dr Elaine McNaughton and Dr Acheson are well respected local Angus GPs who have contributed much to the health of their patients over many years of dedicated service. It is lovely to see their hard work recognised and celebrated in this way. The annual Alastair Donald award rewards one GP in the whole of Scotland who has made an outstanding contribution to General Practice and it is great to see this come to Angus.  

“The RCGP Scotland/Scottish Government award for quality improvement has recognised the South West Angus Cluster’s innovation and commitment towards improving the mental health and wellbeing of their population.  We are now working to spread this good work across Angus to ensure that all areas can benefit.”

Contact:

Sent on behalf of Angus Health and Social Care Partnership

Carin Pettersson

NHS Tayside Communications

01382 740716