Catherine Ryan: Why engagement is often the clearest sign of quality in general practice

Catherine Ryan did not plan on building a career in general practice.

In fact, she initially chose a very different direction, studying rural science/agriculture at university.

But after returning home to Finley in southern NSW in 2007 to help her mother relocate her medical practice, that plan shifted.

“Mum was only meant to be here for two years, and next year it’s going to be 20 years.”

Today, Catherine manages Lakeside Medical Centre in Finley while also working as a QPA surveyor, trainer and assessor, and contributing to broader healthcare leadership through roles including former state president of the Australian Association of Practice Managers and former board member of the Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network.

What began as helping out gradually became something she found deeply rewarding: building systems, supporting teams and helping practices improve.

“I’ve always enjoyed teaching and mentoring,” she says.

That instinct now shapes how she approaches accreditation.

Accreditation as a quality improvement exercise

For Catherine, survey work is not about catching practices out.

“I see my role as a surveyor or auditor not so much about going in and pointing the finger and poking holes,” she says. “I’m a big believer of you don’t know what you don’t know.”

It is why she consistently frames accreditation as something broader than compliance alone.

“I often say accreditation is a quality improvement exercise in itself. You’ve got a second set of eyes coming through to look at your day-to-day systems and how you’re doing things.”

That perspective matters because many practices still approach accreditation with unnecessary anxiety. Catherine speaks from her experiences in her own practice: “I remember accreditation being a really fearful experience, thinking that the surveyor was going to be a dragon, and it was going to be dreadful.”

Now Catherine works deliberately to remove that fear for the practices she works with.

“Once they go, ‘Oh, this is just what I’m doing every day,’ then it becomes much more productive.”

What strong systems look like

One of the clearest indicators of quality, she says, appears almost immediately.

“If everyone knows you’re coming, if they’re organised and the paperwork’s squared away, you can tell quality is embedded. It’s just day to day.”

That usually reflects something deeper than preparation alone.

“The good practices, all those processes are well embedded, and everyone knows their role and everyone knows who’s responsible for what.”

By contrast, practices under strain often reveal themselves quickly too.

“If you turn up to a practice and the reception team has no idea that they’re being accredited, or if you ask the nurse about the standards and they don’t know what you’re talking about, that’s the opposite end of the scale.”

For Catherine, the strongest practices are rarely relying on last-minute effort.

“You only get there if you’re doing it every day. If you’re just trying to put it on and pretend for six hours for the site visit, it’s going to be very clear that you’re not doing that.”

Why communication matters

If one theme runs through Catherine’s thinking on quality, it is good communication.

“In the strongest practices, everyone’s informed. Everyone knows what’s happening. Everyone feels part of it.”

That includes reception staff, nurses, doctors and managers understanding not only what their role is, but why systems exist.

“When everyone has a part, they want to show you what they do.”

She often sees this in small moments during survey visits, when staff proudly share systems or tools they have developed themselves.

Those contributions are often beyond what accreditation formally requires, but they reveal something important about practice culture: people are engaged.

For Catherine, that engagement is often what practices underestimate most.

A rural perspective that shapes the work

Working in a small rural GP practice also shapes how Catherine sees accreditation across Australia.

In recent years she has surveyed practices from regional towns through to remote clinics in Cape York and the Torres Strait. Those visits have reinforced that quality cannot look identical everywhere.

“You need to assess the practice at where they’re at.”

In some communities, the realities are vastly different from metropolitan practice.

“The practice is also the hospital, is also the ambulance.”

In those settings, teams often work with extraordinary flexibility and responsibility. That perspective strengthens her commitment to helping rural practices improve where possible, without losing sight of the pressures they face.

“If I can just make my little improvements to rural and remote health where I can, that sort of makes me feel good at night.”