Emmaville doctor recruitment – a slow road to success
Despite recruitment for a replacement doctor for Emmaville has been in place for nearly four weeks, there has not been any enquiries from interested doctors.
Hunter New England Health says this is largely because there are 193 rural GP positions currently vacant across Australia and there are just not enough rural doctors to go around.
Hunter New England Health’s General Manager for the Tablelands Cluster, Wendy Mulligan, said the recruitment committee is meeting regularly to progress recruitment efforts.
The committee includes the Glen Innes and Inverell Shire Councils, the Area Health Service’s medical recruitment team, senior managers of Hunter New England Health, as well as the Rural Doctor’s Network and the New England Division of General Practice.
Ms Mulligan said the committee brings together a lot of expertise around the difficulties of rural recruitment.
“We are currently advertising on the Rural Doctors Network website, as this has proven to be the most successful form of advertising in the past. Doctors looking for rural positions can access this website across Australia and overseas.
“We are also in the process of completing a comprehensive Area of Need application, which should be finalised within the next couple of weeks. If successful, the Area of Need program will allow us to advertise internationally for an overseas trained doctor.
“This Area of Need option would require the doctor to have close supervision and a practice willing to provide ongoing support,” she said.
The committee is also looking at a variety of practice options for any prospective GP to make the job as attractive as possible.
In the short term, Ms Mulligan said arrangements have been made with a Glen Innes doctor to provide a service to patients within the Vegetable Creek Multi Purpose Service at Emmaville. Negotiations are continuing to try to get a doctor to provide a service to community members as well, but at this stage people will need to make medical appointments with doctors in Glen Innes or Inverell.
As well as advertising on the internet, the committee has also put together a package promoting the strengths of the Emmaville area and the support offered by local Council, which include a residence, a car and medical equipment.
Dr Samir Elsokkary finishes at Emmaville on 23 July 2007.
“We expect recruitment could take a considerable length of time to complete but the Area Health Service and the local Council are committed to finding a way forward to provide ongoing medical care in Emmaville,” Ms Mulligan said.
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