❓ Mr. Blayney asks the Minister for Health about increasing the number of doctors training in regional hospitals to encourage them to work in rural areas after graduation. The Minister confirms the increase and outlines government investment in the program.
AnsweredQoN 73Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
HEALTH SYSTEM — JUNIOR DOCTORS
73. Mr I.C. BLAYNEY to the Minister for Health:
Thank you, Mr
Speaker. Firstly, I welcome the students in the gallery from Mount Lawley
Senior High School in the electorate of the member for Mount Lawley.
My question is to the
Minister for Health. I understand that doctors who train in rural areas are
more likely to return to work in those areas when they finish training. With
this in mind, are we increasing the number of doctors who undertake their
training in regional hospitals?
73. Mr I.C. BLAYNEY to the Minister for Health:
Thank you, Mr
Speaker. Firstly, I welcome the students in the gallery from Mount Lawley
Senior High School in the electorate of the member for Mount Lawley.
My question is to the
Minister for Health. I understand that doctors who train in rural areas are
more likely to return to work in those areas when they finish training. With
this in mind, are we increasing the number of doctors who undertake their
training in regional hospitals?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member
for the question. The answer, surprisingly, is yes we are.
Several members
interjected.
Dr K.D. HAMES : It is really important to get our young
doctors training in country areas. Although we have increased the number of
doctors from the 90 per year when I went through in the mid-1970s to now having
over 300 medical students going through the system per year, we are still short
of the total number of doctors we need in Western Australia. In particular, we
are short of country doctors in this state. In my experience, having country
people studying medicine or training students in the country is really
important in getting them to go back to the country to work. What many people
do not realise when they work in the city, particularly in medicine, is that
when you try to do that job in the country, it is much, much harder. In fact,
it is downright scary at times.
Mr T.G. Stephens : Would the Curtin University proposal help?
Dr K.D. HAMES : I think it would help. I have been saying
publicly that the concept is good, provided that we get some support from the
federal government with additional training. I am happy to support that
concept. I will get back to the question without being diverted, so that the
opposition cannot say that I am not answering the question! This is about the
new number of junior doctors we have doing country training. In 2008 we had
only 25 of them and this year we will have 83 medical students training in
country areas. I was talking to the ones down in Albany the last time I was
there. They absolutely love it down there. They love Albany, as anyone would,
but they also love working in that atmosphere with country doctors and learning
the things that need to know to do medicine in the country. We are really
happy. We have put a lot of money into this. The state government has provided
$27 million to increase the number of students going to the country. An
additional $8.5 million from the royalties for regions program will help with
their travel and accommodation when they are out there. We hope that once we
train these people in rural areas they will be more than happy to go back to
those rural areas when they graduate, especially when there is half a billion
dollars through royalties for regions for the southern inland health
initiative, which will significantly increase the number of doctors in rural
areas. We have to get doctors from somewhere. We are currently recruiting lots
of them from overseas but we need to have our own home-grown doctors working in
those areas. This is a fantastic program that will help us to do that.
for the question. The answer, surprisingly, is yes we are.
Several members
interjected.
Dr K.D. HAMES : It is really important to get our young
doctors training in country areas. Although we have increased the number of
doctors from the 90 per year when I went through in the mid-1970s to now having
over 300 medical students going through the system per year, we are still short
of the total number of doctors we need in Western Australia. In particular, we
are short of country doctors in this state. In my experience, having country
people studying medicine or training students in the country is really
important in getting them to go back to the country to work. What many people
do not realise when they work in the city, particularly in medicine, is that
when you try to do that job in the country, it is much, much harder. In fact,
it is downright scary at times.
Mr T.G. Stephens : Would the Curtin University proposal help?
Dr K.D. HAMES : I think it would help. I have been saying
publicly that the concept is good, provided that we get some support from the
federal government with additional training. I am happy to support that
concept. I will get back to the question without being diverted, so that the
opposition cannot say that I am not answering the question! This is about the
new number of junior doctors we have doing country training. In 2008 we had
only 25 of them and this year we will have 83 medical students training in
country areas. I was talking to the ones down in Albany the last time I was
there. They absolutely love it down there. They love Albany, as anyone would,
but they also love working in that atmosphere with country doctors and learning
the things that need to know to do medicine in the country. We are really
happy. We have put a lot of money into this. The state government has provided
$27 million to increase the number of students going to the country. An
additional $8.5 million from the royalties for regions program will help with
their travel and accommodation when they are out there. We hope that once we
train these people in rural areas they will be more than happy to go back to
those rural areas when they graduate, especially when there is half a billion
dollars through royalties for regions for the southern inland health
initiative, which will significantly increase the number of doctors in rural
areas. We have to get doctors from somewhere. We are currently recruiting lots
of them from overseas but we need to have our own home-grown doctors working in
those areas. This is a fantastic program that will help us to do that.
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