Tasmanian Rural Generalist Pathway Newsletter Edition 26 (Dec-Jan 20)

Tasmanian Rural Generalist Program

Tasmanian Rural Health Conference 2020

“The Future of Rural Practice”

28-29 March at the University of Tasmania, Cradle Coast Campus, Burnie


In This Edition:

  • Future Rural Generalists – Four Rural Clinical Students Awarded Rural Generalist Scholarships
  • Tasmanian Rural Health Conference 2020 – Key Note Speaker Professor Paul Worley
  • National Rural Generalist Pathway – Grant Applications Now Open
  • Rural Medicine Australia Conference 2019

Rural Generalist Scholarships

The Tasmanian Rural Generalist Pathway offers four scholarships to final year University of Tasmania students with a passion for rural health and intending to follow a career as a Rural Generalist.

This year, all four scholarships were awarded to students from the Rural Clinical School in Burnie.  The scholarships are valued at $15,000 paid in three instalments - on successful completion of their final student exams, on successful completion of their intern year, and on successful completion of their PGY2 year.

This year the scholarships went to:  Grace Waring, Frankie Williams, Kade Lynd and Angus Ewing.

All four students will be undertaking their internships at NWRH in 2020 and we look forward to seeing them out on the wards and in rural general practices at King Island and Queenstown.

Photo - Grace Waring, Dr Peter Arvier & Kade Lynd


Thank you to our current Tasmanian Rural Health Conference 2020 Sponsors:


Tasmanian Rural Health conference 28-29 March 2020

“The future of Rural Practice”

Plans for the conference are well advanced and the program is currently being finalised. There will be a mix of inspirational presenters, panel discussions, workshops and hands on skills sessions for students and junior doctors.

Two pre-conference workshops will be available on Friday 27 March:  An ACRRM ALS course and Black Dog Institute with a Depression Dilemmas Workshop

ACRRM, RACGP and GPTT will present an up-to-date session on Rural Generalist pathways.

Dr Nick Towle will lead a session on Climate Change in Health and there will be panel discussion on alternative models of delivering Primary Care services from Expanded Scope paramedics, Physician Assistants and Pharmacists.

There will also be a panel discussion around work/life balance with three inspirational young female doctors: Dr Kim Dobromilsky, Dr Amy Neilson and Dr Meg McKeown.

The Rural Doctors Association of Tasmania will be hosting the conference dinner at Bayviews Restaurant on the Saturday night at which the awards for Tasmanian Rural Doctor of the year, Rural Registrar of the Year, and Rural Student of the Year will be presented. This dinner is kindly co-sponsored by RDAT & ACCRM.

The conference will be opened by the Hon. Sarah Courtney MHA, Minister for Health.

Other key note speakers and presenters include:

  • Dr Brett Sutton, Chief Health Officer, Victoria
  • Dr Lawrie McArthur, Associate Professor of General Practice and Rural Medicine at James Cook University
  • Professor James Vickers, Head of School of Medicine at University of Tasmania and Director of the Wicking Dementia Research Centre
  • Dr Tim Leeuwenburg, Rural Generalist from Kangaroo Island, South Australia

Conference Registration is now open

For the draft program and further details on the conference, please visit the conference web site

Image - Tulips, Wynyard (Tony Crehan)


TRHC Keynote Speaker – Professor Paul Worley

We are delighted to announce that Professor Paul Worley, Australia’s first National Rural Health Commissioner will be one of the key note speakers at TRHC20.  He previously presented at the TRHC in Launceston in 2018.

Professor Worley has had a distinguished career in rural health, both as a practitioner and an academic. He studied medicine at the University of Adelaide, graduating in 1984 and has worked as a Rural Generalist in rural South Australia and currently at Yankalilla south of Adelaide. From 2007 - 2017 he was Dean of Medicine at Flinders University in South Australia, where he established Rural Clinical Schools and University Departments of Rural Health in both South Australia and the Northern Territory. As National Rural Health Commissioner, Professor Worley is passionate about quality, equity and fairness for all, especially the underserved. Professor Worley states “Australia’s rural and remote communities and the health professionals who serve them, deserve an evidence-based, sustainable, cost-effective and well supported rural health system, designed by rural clinicians, grown in rural regions, and serving all who live across our vast land. We must have the right health professionals delivering the right care, in the right place at the right time”.


National Rural Generalist Pathway – new grant opportunities announced

As part of the steps to establish the National Rural Generalist Pathway, the Australian Government has invited applications for grants to establish Coordination Units to support the National Rural Generalist Pathway. The Coordination Units will work with the various stakeholders to coordinate Rural Generalist training and develop strong links between hospitals and Primary Care training.  These grants are for six months over the first half of 2020 and the Rural Generalist Coordinating Council is working on an application to build on the work already done in Tasmania.


Rural Medicine Australia (RMA) Conference 2019

The annual RMA conference is a combined meeting for the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) and the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA). This year, the meeting attracted over 1000 delegates from across Australia and internationally and was held on the Gold Coast.  While some would think the Gold Coast a somewhat surprising location for a rural conference, it has become a challenge to find a venue large enough to accommodate the rapidly growing community of doctors practicing – or aspiring to practice – in rural Australia.

Highlights of the conference included:

  • An outstanding presentation by Professor Paul Worley, National Rural Health Commissioner
  • A vibrant student program with over 100 rural medical students from around Australia
  • A visiting delegation from the People’s Republic of China keen to embrace the concept of RG doctors
  • Several sessions on rural Generalist Specialist training across Australia
  • Rural Generalism in the Australian Defence Forces

And of course the annual graduation ceremony, a gala dinner and awards night for inspirational young students, registrars and doctors working in rural Australia.

The RMA 2020 conference will be held in the more rural location of the Hunter Valley, NSW late October 2020.

The RACGP annual meeting GP20 will be held in Perth WA, mid October 2020.


Current Vacancies

Registrar Recruitment and other THS/DoH jobs, please visit the Tasmanian Government Jobs website

GP registrar placements through GPTT, refer to the GPTT placement process information

GP vacancies, please visit HRPlus


Events – 2019/2020

Check out the Tasmanian Rural Generalist Pathway calendar for events of interest to rural practitioners.

Email rural pathways to have your event included in the calendar.


This project is funded by the Australian Government through the National Partnership Agreement on Improving Health Services in Tasmania.