Charles Sturt University (CSU) and the University of Sydney’s School of Rural Health in Dubbo and Orange have been enlisted in the federal campaign to get more health and medical students to “live, study and work” in rural and regional Australia.
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Federal Assistant Minister for Health Dr David Gillespie will visit Dubbo on Thursday to announce that CSU will get one of three new University Departments of Rural Health (UDRHs) and the School of Rural Health one of 26 new regional training hubs.
He reports that they will support high-quality rural placements for health and medical students to “help ensure rural communities have access to doctors, nurses, midwives and allied health professionals in the future”.
CSU’s Three Rivers UDRH for central NSW will help boost their numbers in Australia to 15.
Dr Gillespie said the three new UDRHs would support “current health workforce priorities in their region” and expand support for clinical placement activity for nursing, midwifery, dental and allied health students.
The Western NSW Regional Training Hub in Dubbo and Orange would form an “essential component” of the Integrated Rural Training Pipeline for Medicine, he said.
The pipeline seeks to address “a lack of connectivity” between the stages of medical training, seen as a key factor in students being “lost to the cities” despite interest in practising in the country.
“Other components of the pipeline initiative will offer 100 ongoing rural training places by 2018 through the Specialist Training Program, and rotations for around 240 interns into rural primary care settings each year through the Rural Junior Doctor Training Innovation Fund,” Dr Gillespie said.
The new hubs and UDRHs are being funded through the latest round of the Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training program. They will receive $54.4 million across three financial years starting 2016/2017.
Federal Member for Parkes is reported by Dr Gillespie to have argued the case for a hub and UDRH in the region. Mr Coulton said the hub would work with health services to move medical students through the pipeline, allowing them to “continue rural training through university into postgraduate medical training, and then work within rural Australia”. Dr Gillespie will visit the School of Rural Health and CSU’s Dental and Oral Health Clinic during his visit to Dubbo.
