TAMWORTH is making a name for itself in rural health as a heavy hitter in the fight to build the regional health workforce.
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It’s great news that the University of Newcastle’s department of rural health can celebrate its best retention rate of graduating students deciding to kick off their career in Tamworth. We welcome them with open arms.
Our city is punching a few weight classes above in the drawn-out fight to attract GPs, allied health workers and specialists away from urban practice.
Recent research revealed an “alarming” divide between outcomes for cancer patients in the country and the city, with the rural cohort the underdog in that fight.
The Garvan Foundation study said distance from the city and a lack of specialists kept the bush trailing behind.
The local Cancer Council and a Tamworth GP said having the North West Cancer Centre in our corner was a positive that couldn’t be overstated.
“The day it was built it did lessen the gap,” The Cancer Council said,
Tamworth is just weeks away from seeing the finishing touches applied to $211 million redevelopment of our hospital, a huge enhancement to health services in the city.
Another director of the department of rural health said Tamworth could become a specialist training hub.
Undisputed victories in the infrastructure department, but it appears we’re on the ropes when it comes to staffing. A point not lost on some of our readers.
“Pity they don’t employ more nurses they are run off there feet up there,” one reader said.
“Now we just need specialists, adequate staff numbers and equipment,” another said.
Tamworth’s Dr Jenny May, a fierce advocate for building rural health numbers, says it’s now about growing the workforce to a critical mass in the bush.
Dr May said students through the department of rural health “love having one-to-one with highly qualified people who are interested in them” which is creating a “cohesive medical community”.
So the fight goes on.
We still need to notch some victories in terms of allied health and specialist access.
But it’s surely a win to see more and more health students talking-up the positives of learning in rural settings, and now seeing them return the favour by plying their trade where it’s needed.
