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A new Rural Medical Workforce Centre is now open as part of the Tasmanian Government’s plan to bolster rural and regional health services across the State.
Located at the Mersey Community Hospital, the workforce centre is a collaboration between the Tasmanian Government and University of Tasmania designed to support the training, recruitment and retention of doctors and health professionals in the north-west and beyond.
It is a key part of the Tasmanian Government’s long-term plan to expand the regional health workforce across Tasmania and improve access to medical services in rural and regional areas.
As the State’s rural training hub, the workforce centre will coordinate attractive training posts for trainee rural doctors by giving them the opportunities to develop skills across a range of specialities including emergency medicine, rural general practice, anaesthetics, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology.
It will play a central role in driving Tasmania’s Rural Generalist Pathway and coordinating Tasmania’s Single Employer Model pilot, which is aimed at supporting the recruitment and retention of the next generation of GPs.
This is an important development because doctors and health professionals who have a positive training experience in rural regions are more likely to live and work in rural communities in the future.
The opening follows completion of $1 million capital works to establish the centre and upgrade the existing training facilities in collaboration with the University of Tasmania.
Upgrades to the existing facilities include a flexible training space, video conferencing facilities, an additional office in the library and additional workstations for students. The four-month construction project was delivered by Fairbrother Construction.