Getting the right health professional into the right rural community, and helping them stay, sits at the heart of everything Rural Health West does. Each year, our Health Workforce Needs Assessment (HWNA) tells us where that need is greatest, so our recruitment effort goes where it will make the most difference, whether that’s a solo practice in a remote town, a large regional centre, or ACCOs.
This year, we placed 60 GPs into roles across Western Australia, 16 of them Pre-Fellowship Program participants. Four placements were made to some of our highest priority communities, one each in Derby, Kununurra, the Ngaanyatjarra Lands and South Hedland, and seven placements were made within ACCOs.
Our GP recruitment efforts this year included attending Doctors Job Fairs in London and Dublin. We were accompanied by the Aboriginal Health Council of Western Australia (AHCWA), along with a number of Aboriginal Medical Services (AMS), to collaboratively recruit prospective GPs. This kind of joint recruitment provided a unified approach when recruiting for GPs at the Fairs.
Permanent placements are only part of how we help keep rural services running. Our GP Locum Program helps fill the gaps that would otherwise appear when a doctor takes leave, falls ill, or heads off for training. This year that meant coordinating 2,202 days of locum coverage across 219 placements, the equivalent of almost nine additional full-time GPs. Eight ACCOs drew on the program this year, accounting for 88 placements and 1,042 locum days between them.
Doctors are only one part of a functioning rural health workforce. This year we also placed 117 nurses, midwives, dentists and allied health professionals across the state. Fourteen of these placements went to priority locations, eight in Kununurra, three in Port Hedland, two in South Hedland and one in Paraburdoo, with a further seven placements made within ACCOs.
Behind those numbers sits a significant amount of grant support. 128 relocation grants, and 10 practice visa support grants, all of which helped make the move possible. 47 doctors also came through our orientation programs.
Finding the right fit for health professionals is not just about ticking off qualifications. We take time to understand what makes each practice and each community tick, its pace, its people, its particular pressures before we put a candidate forward. That extra step is what makes the difference between someone who takes a job and someone who stays in it. Once a candidate is placed, our support continues: provider number eligibility, Ahpra registration, Medicare access, supervision arrangements and help for the families who move with them. Recruitment and settlement are one continuous process, not two separate jobs.