College ‘fragile’ and relies on leadership: outgoing chief

THE RACGP is a “fragile” organisation whose security depends on strong leadership, according to outgoing CEO David Wright, who announced his resignation on Friday.

Mr Wright stepped into the role five years ago and, alongside former president Professor Michael Kidd, helped guide it through a period of turmoil.

“When I started with the college, it was $7.2 million in debt, and the situation was quite traumatic: the staff were like rabbits caught in headlights and we had to rebuild confidence.

“It was a challenging job and not about being popular, but we had to stabilise everything and lock down expenses [to get out of debt and increase membership].

“To me, the leadership sets the culture of the organisation, and RACGP and similar organisations are fragile and based on leadership,” he said.

The outgoing CEO will work out a six-month notice period and said there was no discussion yet about his replacement.

The announcement came less than a week before the results of the RACGP council elections were due to be announced.