Sustainable General Practice and Improved Patient Outcomes- How Chronic Workforce Issues have been Solved in 5 Towns in NSW

Bourke, Brewarrina, Boggabri, Coonamble and Collarenabri are all towns in western NSW that had suffered medical workforce crises- with some of them having no permanent doctors for years.

Two procedural GPs in Bourke developed a company which is able to recruit and retain doctors and manage medical centres to achieve quality patient outcomes. The model involves the recruitment of only quality doctors; fixed fee contracts with Area Health Services for the provision of all VMO services in a town; establishment of quality general practices with excellent practice management, IT and preventative health care programs,; provision of unprecedented levels of support to the doctors including education programs, regular leave, house, car, personal and spousal support; and an emphasis on practice nursing and allied health.The towns are now fully staffed, each with more doctors than ever before. At least one permanent female GP has been recruited to each town.Collarenebri (pop 500) has two Dutch doctors who commenced work on 1 June 2006.In Bourke (pop 2500) they have also developed perhaps Australia’s most innovative Allied Health Service which combines public and private income, and has 2 OT’s, a full time clinical psychologist, and visiting physiotherapist, podiatrist and chiropractor.Recent independent analysis has shown that admission rates of Bourke and Brewarrina residents have fallen markedly, and the average HbA1c of diabetics has dropped significantly.With a novel approach, quality management, ability to recruit and a strong emphasis on supporting staff and doctors, Ochre Health has shown you can recruit and retain doctors (and allied health professionals) to remote Australian towns, improving patient outcomes.Please click here to view the full presentation.(Kindly contributed by Dr Ross Lamplugh: Ochre Health: October 2006. Contactable for more information on ross@ochrehealth.com.au or www.ochrehealth.com.au)