A HEALTH program to increase the workforce at Mount Isa’s general practices has been formed.
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The GP Supervisor and Registrar Education Support Program was developed by Central and North West Queensland Medicare Local and the Mount Isa Centre for Rural and Remote Health.
Central and North West Qld Medicare Local chairman Phil Barwick said Mount Isa’s GP numbers were currently adequate, but they generally faced “ebbs and flows” in workforce availability.
Mr Barwick said the program will help GPs maintain and grow their registrar workforce, especially in areas where shortages are worse.
A medical education director will be appointed to work with general practices and training providers to ensure the region is a destination of choice for registrars, he said.
“The next stage in the program will be the development of an academy to coordinate high quality group training in the region,” Mr Barwick said.
Mount Isa Centre for Rural and Remote Health director Professor Sabina Knight said the medical education director position is still to be filled.
She said training assets available include experienced GPs, supportive health professionals and the resources of MICRRH.
Resources included accommodation infrastructure, clinical academics, broad student body, research and interdisciplinary professional development,” Professor Knight said.
“There is a wide scope for education, which incorporates Aboriginal health, general practice, rural generalism, emergency and retrieval medicine, occupational health, public health, eHealth and Telehealth.”