TY - JOUR T1 - Comparing general practice in Australia and in England: an Australian perspective and the RCGP International and Overseas Network JF - BJGP Open JO - BJGP Open DO - 10.3399/bjgpopen18X101577 VL - 2 IS - 2 SP - bjgpopen18X101577 AU - Jagdeesh Singh Dhaliwal Y1 - 2018/07/01 UR - http://bjgpopen.org/content/2/2/bjgpopen18X101577.abstract N2 - Participation as a founder member of the International and Overseas Network (ION) of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) presented me with the fortuitous opportunity and challenge to pause, to reflect, and to take stock of my experience of life as a GP in Australia and as a GP in England. This article compares and contrasts the primary healthcare systems in both countries from the vista of the individual, practising GP working in those systems, and considers the approaches and developments that each system might learn from the other.Following 20 years as a coalface GP, who has also held various NHS management and healthcare leadership teaching positions, I departed the UK with my family in 2016 to follow my wife as she stepped forward to accept an exciting new corporate job opportunity. Contented as a GP in England, emigrating — for me, as an individual — was categorically about ‘moving towards something new’ rather than an expression of dissatisfaction with my career or life in England.1 Frequent immersion back in the UK — five visits in 18 months, interspersed between growth and consolidation of experience in Australia — has allowed for an evolving and reflexive2 overview3 of the two health systems from the standpoint of the individual GP.My experience in England was as a GP practising in a relatively affluent socioeconomic locale. My Australian experience is in a similar socioeconomic urban setting. As such, my reflections are drawn from comparing and contrasting the healthcare systems’ impact in these specific contexts. GPs practising in rural and remote settings, or those working with indigenous communities, will have different experiences of the UK and Australia. Further, a variety of healthcare reforms are underway in Australia which will alter this experience, just as UK … ER -