City doctors given a taste of the bush
City doctors given a taste of the bush
Life as a country locum can take some interesting turns. Just ask Sydney GP Roslyn Doyle.
Dr Doyle has encountered everything from a farmer attacked by a bull through to helicopter evacuations for car accident victims during her relieving work for rural doctors.
She says the rich variety of rural practice is why she keeps coming back to places like Deniliquin and Gulgong, providing local doctors with much-needed breaks.
Dr Doyle is usually based at the Broadway General Practice in inner-city Sydney. It’s a busy area of hustle, noisy traffic with a diverse population.
Deniliquin is a scenic country town situated 725 kilometres south west of Sydney in the Riverina region of NSW close to the border with Victoria. Gulgong is an historic old gold mining town that once counted famous writer Henry Lawson as a resident.
“Rural locum work certainly gives you a different perspective on life compared to working in the inner-city where we sometimes take medical care for granted,” says Dr Doyle.
“The knowledge that I am helping rural communities is important too, as is the fact that I am enabling a hard-working doctor to take time off.”
Dr Doyle says her city patients have been very supportive of her country locum work.
“They are always keen to know where I will be going next…I think they see it as a great way of helping rural Australians.”
There are now more opportunities for urban doctors like Dr Doyle to experience life in a country practice through the Federal Government’s $6.1 million Rural GP Locum Program.
To find out more or to register to become part of the national locum pool, contact Suzanne Riley from the NSW Rural Doctors Network on 02 4924 8065 or visit the Rural GP Locum Program website.
The Rural Health Workforce Australia (RHWA) is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to improve rural and remote communities’ access to primary medical services.
RHWA provides policy advice to government and delivers programs that support the recruitment and retention of GPs and other rural health workers. It is the peak body for the Rural Workforce Agencies which recruit and support rural and remote GPs in each state and the Northern Territory.
Story supplied by the NSW Rural Doctors Network.
