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Rural Health Young Achiever Award won by Renae Kirkham

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +1100

Renae Kirkham, 25 of Port Augusta, was awarded the Rural Doctors Workforce Agency Rural Health Award in the 2012 Channel 9 Young Achiever Awards on Saturday 17 March.

Renae was presented with her award by RDWA CEO, Lyn Poole and was one of ten category winners announced at the Hilton Adelaide gala event, attended by 460 guests including the Hon Jay Weatherill MP, Premier of South Australia.

Renae is a dedicated community leader. She works with Aboriginal groups to alleviate disadvantage and improve the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal people. Through her PhD, Renae is exploring the roles of Specialised Aboriginal Maternal Infant Care workers in Country Health SA's Aboriginal Family Birthing Program. She has also undertaken many other initiatives to improve Aboriginal health and wellbeing, often in a voluntary capacity. This includes facilitating a weekly Girls' Group through the Port Augusta Youth Centre attracting up to 20 participants each week.

Congratulations Renae from the RDWA!

Rural Health and Wellbeing Achievement Award won by Dr John Ashfield

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +1100

Dr John Ashfield PhD of Clare was awarded the Rural Doctors Workforce Agency Community Rural Health and Wellbeing Award at the 2011 Community Achievement Awards.

John is a rural community health educator, psychotherapist and men’s health expert. He was Principal Mental Health Consultant for Country Health SA for a period from 2006 designing and managing programs to promote and improve rural mental health literacy and services. John is author of six highly acclaimed mental health books, including ‘Taking Care of Yourself and Your Family’ which more than one million copies of have been distributed Australia-wide by Beyondblue free of charge. John is currently involved with the Mid North Division of Rural Medicine focusing on suicide prevention.

Congratulations John from the RDWA!

More doctors for rural SA

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +1100

An expert panel working with the Rural Doctors Workforce Agency has reported to State Government on how to increase the number of Australian trained resident GPs for rural South Australia.

Adjunct Professor Belinda Moyes, Chief Executive of Country Health SA, released the Road to Rural General Practice report (R2RGP) today before 90 rural GPs at the RDWA Annual Conference at Glenelg.

RDWA CEO Ms Lyn Poole who chaired the Expert Panel, said she was delighted that Professor Moyes has welcomed the report, which demonstrates that SA has the ability to attract, educate and train rural GPs.

‘Most importantly, this announcement recognises that rural general practice is a highly-valued specialist career,‘ Ms Poole said.

One of the recommendations in the report is that Country Health SA be declared a major teaching hospital, which will allow more interns to be placed in rural services for their entire intern year.

‘That will allow them to learn first hand the rich mix of service provided by rural GPs in their local practice and in the hospital.'

‘It will make an enormous difference to junior doctors to have most of their training from the end of medical school provided by rural doctors in rural locations.'

Ms Poole paid tribute to the panel of experts from South Australia’s universities, general practice training providers, the Australian Medical Association, the Rural Doctors Association and the Department of Health who led the project and to the many people who contributed through workshops and broad consultation.

To see the full report click here.

For more information or interview contact Lesley Johns 0412 583 577.

RDWA Conference 2011 - Registrations now open

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +1100

Register now for the RDWA Annual Conference - Rural Health... in your hands

Glenelg Pier Hotel, Friday 11 - Saturday 12 November 2011

General practitioners hold the health of rural South Australians in their hands

We all know that rural General Practice holds the health of South Australia’s rural communities in their hands.

This year’s RDWA Conference will bring together rural GPs, registrars, students, practice managers, and staff from Divisions and Networks to hear about the great work in rural health, education, clinical practice and the business of general practice.

The key note speakers at the RDWA Conference will stimulate your thinking and there will be some special announcements about rural research opportunities!

For more information and to register visit the RDWA Conference page.

Nomination for Country Health SA 10 Year Plan Taskgroups

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +1100

Country Health SA have asked the Rural Doctors Workforce Agency, the Rural Doctors Association and the Australian Medical Association to seek nominations from doctors who might be interested in being a member of one of five Taskgroups being established to support the 10 year health service implementation planning in rural SA. The five groups are:

Whyalla, Port Lincoln, Port Augusta, Eyre, Flinders Ranges and Far North
Barossa, Eudunda, Kapunda, Yorke, Lower North and Mid North
South East
Riverland, Mallee Coorong
Inner Country (Gawler, Mt Barker, Victor Harbor, Kangaroo Island)

If you are interested in nominating, please email your name to Joanne Longmire at the RDWA or call on 08 8234 8277 by this Friday 8 July 2011.

More detail is provided in the Terms of Reference attachment below.

Terms of Reference.

RDWA Conference 2011 - Call for Abstracts

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +1100

Rural Health... in your hands

General practitioners hold the health of rural South Australians in their hands.

The 2011 RDWA Annual Conference will be held Friday 11 November - Saturday 12 November 2011 at the Glenelg Pier Hotel.

This year’s RDWA Conference will bring together rural general practitioners, registrars, students, practice managers, and staff from Divisions and Networks to hear about the South Australian home-grown innovations in rural health, education, clinical practice and the business of general practice.

There will be key note speakers who will stimulate your thinking.

We have a special presentation by Dr Ken Milne, a Canadian rural Doctor, on participating in research and recognising yourselves as a centre of excellence.

The Conference Panel of RDWA and Rural Doctors Association of South Australia invite you to submit an abstract showcasing your cleverness in practice and/or business.

Call for Abstracts

Parliamentary Inquiry into Registration Processes and Support for OTDs

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +1100

RDWA has made a submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Registration Processes and Support for OTDs (Overseas Trained Doctors). The submission was based on RDWA's experience as the key state-based organisation responsible for recruiting and supporting a medical workforce for rural and remote SA. Several recommendations were made - please click on the attachment below to view the full submission.

Submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Registration Processes and Support for OTDs

Rural Community Achievement Award won by Barbara Keller

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +1100

Barbara Keller of Tintinara was awarded the Rural Doctors Workforce Agency Rural Community Health and Wellbeing Award at the 2010 Community Achievement Awards.

As a Volunteer Ambulance Officer for 27 years, Barbara passionately dedicates herself to 100 hours each week with the SA Ambulance Service providing 24/7 emergency medical care. She has completed many emergency care certificates to ensure her continuing competence as well as holding numerous positions within St John Ambulance and SA Ambulance Service, including Volunteer Team Leader for the Tintinara Team.

Congratulations Barb from RDWA!

RDWA Strategic Directions/Survey and Conference - Heart and Soul

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +1100

For those of you who couldn't join us over the weekend I thought I'd share a couple of highlights. Friday night our General Manager Mandy McCulloch gave an overview of our 2009 GP Survey results and comparing them to the 2006 data we can see a tangible increase in the stability of our rural doctor workforce.

We gave a presentation covering our achievements over the past three years and outlined the challenges and opportunities for the next four years. Our Chair Dr Richard Mackinnon formally launched our Strategic Directions for 2011-2015.

Our strategic directions document "Heart and Soul" beautifully designed by Anna Sapio will be sent out this week to all, practices, funders and rural communities.

Saturday the conference got into full swing. Our Health and Arts theme explored the relationships between Art and Health and demonstrated what a holistic approach can do to enhance people’s well being. The Doctor Health session was enriched by individuals sharing their stories.

The RDASA AGM was held in the afternoon, our congratulations to Dr Tim Wood, as the newly elected President, the RDWA looks forward to working closely with Tim in his new role.

Saturday night was very special. 200 people joined us to celebrate with the recipients of the RDWA 2010 Long Service Medal Awards. These events are always a highlight and this year was no different. Hosted by Wayne Philips there were many touching moments and a healthy dose of humour.

We congratulate all the recipients of the 2010 Long Service Medal Awards:

Dr Bathiya Alwis-Jayasinghe

Dr Geoffrey Arthurson

Dr Stephen Ballard

Dr David Batt

Dr David Butler

Dr Stephen Byrne

Dr Diana Cross

Dr Julie Crouch

Dr Agnelo De Sousa

Dr John Dunn

Dr John Entwistle

Dr Malcolm Gale

Dr Ian Gartley

Dr Michael Gregg

Dr Michael Hoopmann

Dr Colin Ingham

Dr Ernest Kamitakahara

Dr Iain McIntyre

Dr Peter Michelmore

Dr Alan Miller

Dr Kishor Mistry

Dr Brian Norcock

Dr John Rutter

Dr David Sare

Dr Paul Smith

Dr Ashley Thomas

Dr Barry Trewren

Dr Martin Waters

Dr Patrick Wells

To all those who participated in the weekend, our thanks for your time and your support, to those of you who couldn’t make it, hopefully we'll see you next year.

Lyn Poole

CEO, RDWA

Transition to your next challenge in medical practice ownership

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +1100

The RDWA Transition to Practice (T2P) Program will launch in 2011 and provide learning and support for those considering making the move into setting up a new medical practice, or to change the ownership arrangements of an existing practice. Develop your knowledge of what is essential in owning and running a practice as a business, as well as the skills and confidence to make it a success.