Stories and Media
Stories and Media
Featured Stories
4 March 2024
Something in the Ayr
For General Practice (GP) Registrar, Dr Ashleigh Attard, there is no place like home. After receiving hands-on GP training and experience practising in regional and remote clinics across Northern Queensland, Dr Attard returned home to complete her final GP practice placement in Ayr. Ashleigh said, the decision to move home to service the community was an easy one. “I thought it would be nice to come back and work at home, in a community that I'm familiar with,” she said. “I wanted to give back to the community where I've lived my whole life and all my family still lives here. It was an easy decision to make.” During the 18-month placement at Outback Family Medicine, Ashleigh received support, supervision and training from her cousin, an experienced GP working at the practice. “I had that family connection to the workplace already and it was a great environment to do my training in,” she said. “My cousin was a great mentor. The practice has really great patients and staff.” Working as a GP Registrar in a rural community, Dr Attard gained a wide scope of practice providing continuity of care to patients with diverse clinical presentations. “I see a lot of patients across the spectrum from young to old,” she said. “I look after the Home Hill Nursing Home so; I have a lot of patients that I go to visit once a week. “I have lots of antenatal, and I'm involved in the antenatal care of some of my friends from school who are having babies. “You really get immersed in the community, and you will know so much more about your patients, and you feel like you really are making a difference in people’s lives definitely more so in a rural town.”
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29 February 2024
Bridging the gap
After witnessing the negative impacts that the transience of General Practitioners (GP) had on the Mackay community, Dr Kate Bialy wanted to bridge the primary care gap. In 2019, Dr Bialy fellowed from GP training and began working at a clinic in Mackay. “My husband and I wanted to go where we could be of the most help, and we noticed there was high transience and turnover of people in the medical sphere here,” she said. “When it comes to continuity of care in medicine high turnover creates a huge gap. “I started working at Health on Central in Mackay essentially as soon as I fellowed from GP Training.” Five years later, Kate continues to make a positive impact on the health outcomes of her patients at Health on Central. Dr Bialy said, providing primary healthcare services to the Mackay community is extremely rewarding. “Being able to practise as a GP is a lifelong dream of mine,” Kate said. “Working as a GP in a regional town is extremely rewarding; seeing my patient’s health improve is the biggest highlight.” “If you are keen to make a difference in a big way to a small community, it’s very easy to do that in regional medicine.”
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27 February 2024
Adventure Calls in Tropical Island Paradise
Enticed by a tropical adventure, Dr Joshua Baker travelled almost 5,000 kilometres across Australia to seek out the rural medicine experience in Far North Queensland. Reality more than met his expectations and prompted a permanent switch from the Outback to the Tropics. “It always was a plan to head to Cairns in the year following internship back home in Western Australia,” Dr Baker says. “The whole ‘Rainforest meets the reef’ lifestyle really appealed to me. I wanted to spend some time up here and I guess I just haven’t left!” Dr Baker says. While completing his junior doctor years at Cairns Hospital, Dr Baker got a glimpse of the general practice scene in the Cape and Torres region and was immediately drawn to it. “When I saw GPs there, I thought they had the best job in the world. You’re getting to do a diverse range of clinical work in the emergency department in the hospital and out in remote clinics. These guys are at the forefront of primary care.”
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23 February 2024
A warm welcome to Orthopaedics in the Tropics
Growing up in Western Australia, Indigenous doctor Tamika Ponton had not given much thought to a career in medicine let alone a competitive specialty pathway. But once she began the medical journey and got a taste for orthopaedics she was hooked. When she asked seasoned doctors where to pursue the specialty, one location came up repeatedly; Cairns, Far North Queensland. An ever-popular tourist destination, the tropical city has a strong and growing reputation for its outstanding training experience across a range of specialties like orthopaedics and cardiology. “Once I had settled on pursuing orthopaedics I began looking at the sites that have had a good reputation,” Dr Ponton says. “Every conversation seemed like it kept coming back to Cairns. Everyone had good things to say; the support, the extent of the training, the lifestyle.” After completing her internship year in WA, Dr Ponton made the move to Cairns Hospital to gain as much orthopaedic exposure as she could before applying for the program. “The junior doctor years before specialty training is about building up those skills for your chosen pathway. For me, it was about stepping up, being challenged to become a good all-rounded doctor,” Dr Ponton says. Dr Ponton says the Orthopaedics Department doctors have been extremely helpful in ensuring she gets the experience she needs to set her up for applying for the specialty pathway. “The scope of practice in orthopaedics in Cairns is really what drew me here in the first place. You see a lot of soft tissue and acute injuries, chronic arthritis and seasonal injuries given the tourist influx. Cairns is the first port of call for the region, and we are servicing a wide area of the Far North.”
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23 February 2024
Going the distance
Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) Registrar, Dr Amanda Wee, is passionate about providing women with the women-centred care that they need. “I've always been interested in women's health,” Amanda said. “I just knew that I wanted to specialise in Obstetrics and Gynaecology.” Dr Wee has travelled across Queensland doing obstetrics and gynaecology specialty training in metropolitan, regional and rural centres. After completing an impactful third-year clinical placement in Townsville, Dr Wee who is currently in her final year of training, has returned to Townsville to complete a two-year advanced gynaecology fellowship. “Since I got on the training pathway, I've had to move around the state quite a bit,” she said. “I came to Townsville for my third year, and I really enjoyed my time here. I got to work with such good surgeons, they just really inspired me to come back again. "I think the reason why they were so inspiring for me was because they were all great role models who took pride in their work, and provided women with the women-centred care that they need, and that is my real passion.” Amanda said, that she couldn’t pass on the opportunity to work alongside and learn from the experienced supervisors at TUH. “When I had the opportunity, I applied and interviewed for a job at TUH, and very luckily got offered the job,” she said. “Now, I've come back up here to do a two-year advanced laparoscopic gynaecology fellowship. The team here in Townsville are extremely skilled with difficult endometriosis and other endoscopic surgeries. I want to get that skill and be able to perform those surgeries one day. It’s a good experience learning how the bosses perform surgery, and what tips and tricks they have. That's why I wanted to come back up here.” “I think also it's a combination of the fact that we're doing tertiary level things in a hospital that's not as big, and everyone knows each other. It's like a small hospital feel but you're doing a lot of the big stuff that you'd be doing at the metropolitan centres.”
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22 February 2024
An abundance of opportunity in regional Northern Queensland
Dr Emma-Lee May was set up for career success when she chose to do her internship and PGY2 at Mackay Base Hospital. “I absolutely love the hospital; it is so tailored to learning,” Dr May said. “The medical education unit here is really good. “You have the opportunity to be one-on-one with a consultant or a registrar and that really helps to build connection. “In a metropolitan place, you may be the fourth or fifth person in line to perform a procedure whereas, in a place like this, you are the person doing it.” As the referral hospital for the region, Mackay Base Hospital has a diverse mix of patient cases, Emma-Lee said. “I’ve always been that medical student who likes a bit of everything,” she said. “I just finished my rotation in the Emergency department (ED), and I like the versatility of cases. “The other day, I had a 101-year-old patient, and my next patient was a two-month-old.” In April, Dr May will be starting a role as a Senior House Officer (SHO) in the Anaesthetics and Intensive Care Units. She said, that working as an SHO in PGY2 is a testament to the career advancement opportunities available to doctors in the region. “There are so many opportunities that you may not get at a metropolitan hospital,” she said. “Junior House Officer (JHO) is usually the PGY2, and SHO is usually PGY3. “I've got a six-month SHO job in anaesthetics and a three-month SHO job in ICU.”
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21 February 2024
Home away from home in the Tropics
The Tropical Far North is an idyllic place for a working holiday, which was the kind of experience Dr Ana Liddie Navarro had in mind when she travelled over from the United Kingdom. Fast forward eight years and Dr Liddie Navarro is still in Cairns, recently fellowed, embracing the barmy weather and loving a job that she had never even considered doing. Dr Liddie Navarro completed her medical training back home in the United Kingdom (UK) before deciding to do a year abroad as a Resident Medical Officer, working in hospital settings in Townsville and then Cairns. “I’d never been to Australia, but wanted to try working in a completely different setting with what I had heard was a very interesting mix of work. Australia is unique with its Aboriginal and Torres Strait I Islander communities. You also get tropical diseases that we don’t get in cold and cloudy England!” Three years in the region was enough to motivate Dr Liddie Navarro to stay in Cairns to pursue a career in general practice. As part of her training, she worked at an Aboriginal Medical Service, a private general practice, and the Royal Flying Doctors Service (RFDS). “Doing your training in the Far North, you are more likely to have a very broad understanding of more health issues. It’s interesting and rewarding, and it’s great professionally because you’re building a skillset that really I think enables you to work anywhere.”
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20 February 2024
The Best of Both Worlds
With idyllic fishing, hiking, and camping spots aplenty, the Cape and Torres Region offers an enviable coastal lifestyle, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Doctors who head to the Far North are discovering the training, research, and career advancement opportunities on offer in this Tropical Island Paradise. Rural generalist registrar, Dr Joshua Baker travelled to the Cape from Outback Western Australia, enticed by adventure and a unique medical training experience. Based on Thursday Island (Waiben), Dr Baker works across hospital, primary health centre and outreach clinic settings. “As soon as I saw doctors working on the island, I just thought they had the best job in the world. You’re getting to do a diverse range of clinical work in the emergency department in the hospital and out in remote clinics. These guys are at the forefront of primary care,” Dr Baker says. "Thursday Island is a really interesting place to train because the doctors here have a range of different experiences and backgrounds. There are a lot of procedural cases here for the obstetricians and a lot of clinical experience in critical care. You also develop your problem-solving skills with logistical considerations of providing care to outer islands. The medical workforce here is focused on investing in the education of students and junior doctors.” It’s a sentiment echoed by Dr John Hall, Director of Medical Services – Western, Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service. Based at Weipa Integrated Health Service, Dr Hall says the training experience offered in the region sets junior doctors up for success. “Places like Weipa, Thursday Island, and Cooktown are fantastic breeding grounds for doctors. You get exposure to a broad range of specialties and pathologies, and the maturity you gain is invaluable,” Dr Hall says. “You develop clinical autonomy earlier in your career, you’re placed in situations where you’re the first responder, and you’re taking responsibility. “I’ve always found that candidates who cut their teeth in rural and remote sites become more advanced candidates clinically. I can assure you that clinical supervisors who are assessing your entry into specialty training value that experience as well.
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NQRTH is an initiative of the Australian Government's Integrated Rural Training Pipeline (IRTP) and is facilitated by James Cook University in partnership with public and private hospitals, Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC), health services, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) and GP clinics.
Cairns region
(07) 4226 8187
Central West region
(07) 4764 1547
Mackay region
(07) 4885 7122
North West region
(07) 4764 1547
Torres and Cape region
(07) 4095 6103
Townsville region
(07) 4781 3424