IF you live in the regions, you know how difficult it is to see a doctor.
We have to do better.
The past two days at the Mildura Regional Health Workforce Summit have been an exciting step forward, bringing peak health bodies to the regions to work collaboratively at grassroots level with the workforce they represent.
It was fantastic to have the input of Swan Hill medical professionals such as Swan Hill District Health chief executive Peter Abraham, executive director of medical services Dr Rex Prabhu and Swan Hill Medical Group practice manager Angela Duncan sharing their experiences in Swan Hill, joining with the wider regional health workforce.
These people were joined by their fellows from across Mallee and across Australia, from Western Australia, Queensland, Tasmania, NSW, SA and Victoria.
Discussion across the summit was honest and insightful, with many ideas shared across working groups and in the panel sessions.
Delegates have provided very positive feedback including from regional doctors, practice managers, allied health staff and nurses who felt they were being heard on the issues that matter, to peak body representatives who were so pleased to finally be able to say things that needed to be said.
The summit created an environment where professionals could speak freely and share their ideas without fear of backlash – it was true collaboration.
Thank you to everyone who attended. Their comments and discussion points certainly provoked some thoughts on what we can do better going forward to help solve the workforce crisis.
Everyone in the room of 130 health-care professionals clearly wants to see change, which is encouraging and I want to see flow on to our regional communities.
We are in this together.
