RDWA

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!

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!

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.

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.

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

The RDWA has commenced work on a project designed to get more Australian trained doctors into rural areas of South Australia.

The Rural Pathway project was launched today by Health Minister John Hill at the RDWA AGM.

The project has been commissioned by Country Health SA.

"We have invited organisations who influence and manage key components of doctor education and training" said RDWA CEO Lyn Poole.

Ms Poole said the response from these organisations has been terrific.

"With an expert panel to oversee the project, including Commonwealth and State government GP colleges, training bodies, Universities and the peak bodies, we have the capacity, capability and the desire to find a solution."

"All of these organisations make a very positive contribution to rural medicine. Our collective challenge is to maximise the number of young people choosing to become rural GPs" she said.

Students, graduates and registrars will be consulted through a series of focus groups.

"As they are our future workforce it is vital that the proposed outcomes are contemporary and include their views" said Ms Poole.

Once the project has determined a model that will suit South Australia, it is expected a pilot program will be undertaken.

"This is an exciting project as the end result will mean having more Australian trained GPs and GP Proceduralists to service the needs of our rural communities."

For further information contact RDWA media adviser, Lesley Johns 0412 583 577.