Extra support for Tenterfield Emergency Department

A new medical locum service has started providing services to Tenterfield Prince Albert Memorial Hospital to help ensure there is always a doctor available for the Emergency Department.

Tenterfield Health Service Manager Julie Kirk, said the new locum service comes from Broken Hill, and the doctors are ‘absolutely brilliant’.

"We have worked hard to ensure that a doctor is available in the Emergency Department over the weekends.

"The new locum doctors have lots of experience with the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) and so they are used to doing retrievals for emergencies, and seem to take it in their stride.

"They will be working two weeks in four, which will allow our two local doctors some much needed time off.

"In addition, the doctors have also offered to work with our staff to develop local policies and guidelines to ensure we are all working with best practice in mind. They will also work with our Clinical Nurse Consultants to support any education update that may be necessary," she said.

Ms Kirk said this new locum service will be trialled for three months, but she is very optimistic that the service will be implemented on a permanent basis and be taken up by other hospitals who regularly require locum services.