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Examiner role reflects diversity of general practice

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For one rural GP, holding an additional role as an examiner for RACGP Fellowship brings ‘many rewards and very few challenges’.
 
Dr Sara Fergusson told newsGP one of these rewards is the ‘valuable’ opportunity to connect with colleagues from across Australia, given she is often working in relative professional isolation in rural New South Wales.
 
‘Those interactions are professionally rewarding and help foster a strong sense of community despite the geographical distances that often separate us,’ she said.
 
Having been an RACGP Clinical Competency Exam (CCE) and Quality Assurance examiner for several years, her initial motivation was to ensure she remained up to date with the Fellowship exam format and standards to better support registrars as a supervisor, lending from her own experience.
 
‘When I sat the CCE, it was a face-to-face exam rather than online, so becoming an examiner also gave me valuable insight into how the assessment has evolved,’ she said.
 
‘I was also keen to contribute to ensuring there is strong representation among examiners from rural and remote practice, Aboriginal Medical Services, and dual Fellowship pathways.
 
‘These perspectives are important in reflecting the diversity of Australian general practice.’
 
In 2003, Dr Fergusson began her Australian GP training in the NSW outback town of Broken Hill as an international medical graduate from Scotland, first arriving to worked as a paediatric registrar providing neonatal and paediatric retrieval services across the state.
 
‘Through this experience, I developed a deep respect for clinicians working in rural and remote settings, along with a love of the Australian landscape and a curiosity for the diverse communities across NSW,’ she said.
 
During her GP training she undertook Advanced Skills Training in psychiatry as well as working with the Royal Flying Doctor Service and Maari Ma Aboriginal Health Corporation – all experiences that ‘reinforced her passion’ for rural, remote and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander healthcare.
 
She then spent two years as an emergency department registrar at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney.
 
‘Although I was not subject to the GP moratorium, I chose to undertake Dual Fellowship GP training in the Far West region of  NSW, starting in Mudgee, a town I had visited several times and grown to love,’ Dr Fergusson said.
 
‘It offered the opportunity to continue hospital-based practice, including obstetrics, paediatrics, emergency medicine and provided the opportunity for inpatient care as a VMO.’
 
Dr Fergusson’s broad experience is one that supports candidates preparing for and sitting the RACGP’s final exam on the pathway to Fellowship – the CCE. As an examiner, she has always felt well supported by the team and says the CCEs are ‘exceptionally well organised from start to finish’.
 
Across four days in June, 1076 candidates sat the most recent 2026.1 CCE, with the results of the exam now available. The exam report reveals 850 candidates were successful – translating to a pass rate of 79%.
 
Highlighting that every day in general practice ‘we manage uncertainty’, Dr Fergusson offers her advice for future CCE candidates.
 
‘We often don’t know who our next patient will be or why they have come to see us, yet we navigate that uncertainty by using a structured approach, sound clinical knowledge, effective communication and the support of our multidisciplinary teams,’ she said.
 
‘Whether that support comes from fellow doctors, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners, nurses, pharmacists ... or allied or community services, we rarely practise in isolation.
 
‘The CCE is no different – so think about what you do every day in your practice and ensure that you demonstrate your knowledge, structure and everyday-GP consultation skills.
 
‘Be curious and demonstrate your interest in each patient in the context of them as an individual, their ideas, concerns, expectations, background, personal situation, their network and community.’
 
For the 2026.1 CCE, a breakdown of assessed criteria within competency area shows the top four as:

• clinical management and therapeutic reasoning – 25%
• communication and consultation skills – 22%
• diagnosis, decision-making and reasoning – 21%
• clinical information gathering and interpretation – 14%.

Dr Fergusson also says to maintain a high standard, voice and communication skills are a core component.
 
‘Communicating online is different to in the consulting room. It is worth practising online consultations and case discussions with your study group, supervisors, colleagues, family or friends so that the technology becomes familiar and your communication feels natural,’ she said.
 
‘Working with a professional voice and communication coach, even for a single one-to-one session, can provide targeted strategies, personalised feedback, and practical techniques that significantly improve performance and may make the difference between passing and failing.
 
‘This is a consideration for us all as clinicians, not only to prepare for the CCE, but to continue developing as a GP well beyond Fellowship. Voice and communication skills training is part of my professional development plan for the second half of this year.
 
‘Fellowship is not the end of learning; it is the beginning of lifelong professional growth.’
 
More information for members interested in becoming a CCE examiner is available on the RACGP website.
 
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CCE Clinical Competency Exam Fellowship examiner FRACGP RACGP exams RACGP Fellowship rural general practice

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