SWAN Hill District Health has opened its doors to even more training opportunities for junior staff as the hospital welcomes 11 new junior doctors to the team.
The post graduate Medical Council of Victoria has accredited four new training positions in Swan Hill including general practice, geriatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology and rural general medicine.
“We are extremely excited that this opportunity is available for our up-and-coming doctors,” Director of Medical Services Dr Rex Prabhu said.
“This will not only be an advantage for junior doctors but will also be a huge benefit to us as a rural health service.”
Two new GP registrars who completed their rotational training at SHDH have also returned and will undertake the GP training locally at Swan Hill Primary Health Medical Centre.
The hope is that Dr Prabhu explained, that by establishing these training pathways and core rotations, junior doctors can complete their prevocational training and enrol directly into general practice training.
“Way back in 2019 we developed a workforce plan but we kind of identified that we had the potential to have doctors rotating in various specialties,” Dr Prabhu said.
“Obviously building that took time because we had to hire senior doctors first because you only get accredited by having the right supervision in place.
“Those dividends are now showing because they spend most of their time here, they grow relationships with our doctors, with our senior doctors, they kind of embody them as role models and then want to train and stay here.
“By doing most of their training here, we have a better chance of keeping them here once they finish their training.”
Of the 11 junior doctor positions there are three internship positions, seven vocational positions and another unaccredited surgical position.
With a full set of new doctors, some will rotate for three months in each rotation and some of them rotate for six months to one year, depending on what pathway they are.
“Some of them might go back to their parent hospital to do a rotation which might be at St Vincent’s Melbourne or in Bendigo, but some of them will stay and do most of their training here in Swan Hill,” Dr Prabhu said.
“That gives them that exposure and engagement when they’re staying for longer durations in the region.”
