2023 has been a significant year for the College. In November, we transitioned to the 13th Council term and welcomed Dr Gill Gibson as RANZCOG President. I would like to thank Dr Ben Bopp and the Board of the 12th Council term for their work over the past two years. I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved as a College under Ben’s leadership, and I look forward to working with Gill and the 13th Board and Council. I would also like to express my gratitude to the RANZCOG staff for their contributions to the College. From education to women’s health to governance, our staff enable us to operate to a high standard and ultimately achieve our vision of excellence and equity in women’s health.

This year we announced that RANZCOG is one of the first organisations accredited under the Australian Medical Council as a CPD home for 2024. Since the announcement, the CPD team has been hard at work to ensure that we have an efficient system in place going into the new year. I am confident that the RANZCOG CPD home will be a success and would like to thank the team for their work on this project.

A major focus of the College for 2023 has been addressing the workforce shortages that have been having a profound impact on the fields of obstetrics and gynaecology across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. We are aware of the challenges that this presents to our members, and we have been actively engaging with state and federal governments for improved conditions for clinicians. In the near future we will be releasing our rural workforce strategy, which will inform the broader workforce strategy. I look forward to sharing more information on this in the coming months.

Over the course of 2023 the College has been heavily involved in advocacy for our members, as well as for women’s health. We have completed a significant amount of submissions and I would like to thank the members that take the time to contribute to these important initiatives on behalf of the College. We are committed to advocating on behalf of our membership on matters affecting the specialty, and we will continue to build on this work in 2024.

At the Annual Scientific Meeting in Perth, it was great to see the launch of our Abortion Guideline. We have been reviewing our methodology for the development of statements and guidelines to ensure that we are delivering to the highest standard, and the Abortion Guideline is just one of many examples of how far we have come in this space. We have several guidelines and statements in development that we are excited to release in the new year.

In November, we officially opened the Assessment, Learning and Examination Centre (ALEC) at Djeembana. After months of planning and preparation, we are immensely proud of this space and the opportunities it will provide both our trainees and the College. We have begun to hold our exams at ALEC and have already received great feedback on the space.

I wish all of our members, trainees and staff a safe and restful holiday period, and look forward to continuing our important work in the new year.