The University of Notre Dame Australia’s Dean of Medicine has highlighted the importance of building the healthcare workforce in the bush at a major national summit aimed at solving the biggest issues facing rural Australians.
Speaking at The Australian Bush Summit in Broome, Rebecca Anglin highlighted the work being done by Notre Dame to address the shortage of healthcare professionals in the region through the Kimberley Centre for Remote Medical Training (KCRMT), Majarlin Kimberley Centre for Remote Health and other clinical schools and programs.
Professor Anglin said Notre Dame was training a workforce of doctors to stay in the Kimberley through the KCRMT – which is Western Australia’s first fully regional medical school.
“All of the evidence nationally and internationally says that if you take students from the regions and keep them here for medical school, and you keep them here through their training, they are most likely to stay,” she said.
“We have a dedicated pathway for students from the Kimberley and Pilbara regions, as well as an Indigenous students pathway, and we’re delighted that of our 20 first year students this year, 30 per cent are from the Kimberley and Pilbara.
“We’re really hoping these are going to be your future doctors that will really change the game here for the healthcare workforce in WA.”
The Bush Summit is a major agenda-setting event held in regional centres across the country and broadcast on Sky News Extra and The Australian newspaper’s website.
It brings together community leaders, policy makers and politicians to discuss the opportunities and challenges faced by rural communities.
Professor Anglin said Notre Dame, which last week celebrated the 30th anniversary of its Broome Campus, had long had a connection to the Kimberley and was committed to working closely with community.
“Notre Dame has Majarlin, where we facilitate clinical placements for allied health and nursing students from different universities to come up and experience the region,” she said.
“That’s been hugely successful. That taste of red dirt really sticks with students, it sticks on your boots, too.
“We do know that having a fully rural medical school will also hopefully retain students here in that critical time in life when they’re putting down roots.”
The Kimberley Centre for Remote Medical Training was officially opened this week.
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Notre Dame’s Dean of Medicine helps shape key regional agenda (UNDA)
