GPRA Futures: Shaping the future of primary care with Dr Darran Foo
A career built on impact
When Dr Darran Foo reflects on his career so far, the common thread is clear: impact.
As a GP, Medical Director at Healthdirect Australia, and Co-Deputy Chair of the RACGP Digital Health and Innovation Specific Interests Group, his work sits at the intersection of frontline practice, clinical governance, and health technology.
He is also completing a PhD in Health Innovation at Macquarie University, researching telehealth models and digital health systems, while publishing and presenting internationally on subjects ranging from AI scribes to direct-to-consumer telemedicine.
Darran’s portfolio career began in the consulting room, where he saw first-hand how systemic gaps in information, administration, and continuity could compromise care.
“As a GP, you see how systemic issues – gaps in information, fragmented care, and administrative overload – directly affect patient outcomes,” he says.
“By stepping into digital health and governance, I realised I could address those problems at scale, not just one patient at a time.”
Leading innovation at Healthdirect
Today, at Healthdirect, Darran leads the clinical governance of the GP Helpline, which receives more than 10,000 calls every month, and oversees innovations designed to make virtual GP services safer, more efficient, and more sustainable.
This can mean anything from refining complaints and incident processes, developing new clinical policies, or creating a digital platform for GPs to work from, through to exploring the incorporation of emerging technologies like AI scribes.
“We’re building a platform where GPs can work more efficiently, supported by technologies like AI scribes, without losing the heart of the job – patient care,” he explains.
“For innovation to stick, it has to be practical for clinicians and add genuine value to their work.”
Opportunities and challenges in digital health
For Darran, the attraction of moving into innovation has always been about making a broader difference.
He believes technology, when designed well, has the power to extend equity, reach, and safety in health care.
“Technology can extend reach, equity, and safety – if it’s designed well,” he says.
“Diversifying my career allows me to ensure innovations are clinically grounded, safe, and actually usable in real practice.”
But Darran is also clear-eyed about the challenges. While the pandemic accelerated the adoption of telehealth and ePrescriptions, and reforms to My Health Record promise a ‘share by default’ future, general practice still faces barriers.
These include funding fragmentation, interoperability gaps in software, regulatory uncertainty around artificial intelligence, and variable uptake driven by workforce and resource pressures.
“Our funding structures still prioritise short consultations over continuity and whole-person care,” he notes.
“And while we’ve got national strategies for interoperability, on the ground most practices still face frustrating software silos.
“Add in regulatory uncertainty around AI and uneven uptake across regions, and you see why change feels slower than it should.”
The future of General Practice
Despite these barriers, Darran is optimistic about where general practice is headed.
He envisages a future that is hybrid, team-based, and data-connected, where patients have a registered home practice that offers continuity of care, supported by both in-person and virtual options.
“I see the future of general practice as hybrid, team-based, and data-connected,” he says.
“Multidisciplinary teams will be the norm, with routine tasks automated and information flowing more seamlessly with AI providing decision support in the background.
“But the core of our work, understanding the person in front of us, will remain unchanged.”
Why GP voices matter
A recurring theme in Darran’s work is the importance of GP involvement in the design of health technology.
Without the insights of frontline clinicians, he argues, systems risk becoming unsafe, unwieldy, or inequitable.
“If you design without frontline insight, you risk unsafe, clunky systems,” he says.
“GPs juggle diagnostic uncertainty, multimorbidity, and time pressure daily.
“That perspective ensures technology is clinically safe, improves – not hinders – workflow, and serves patients equitably.”
Encouraging the next generation
Darran is also passionate about encouraging the next generation of doctors to see general practice as a specialty of leadership and breadth.
He believes it is one of the most flexible platforms in medicine, offering opportunities to combine clinical work with teaching, research, policy, and digital health.
“General practice is a leadership specialty,” he says.
“It’s where you develop breadth, depth, and the ability to influence health over years, not minutes.
“If you want to combine medicine with teaching, research, policy, or digital health, GP is the most flexible platform.
“Build your digital literacy, get involved in quality improvement, and see general practice not as narrow, but as a launchpad for a portfolio career with enormous scope and impact.”
Looking ahead
As GPRA launches its new series highlighting innovation in the health sector, Darran’s story exemplifies how general practice can lead the way.
By blending the immediacy of patient care with the long view of systems design, he is helping shape a future where technology enables, rather than obstructs, the timeless goal of medicine: caring for people.
