Community Planning Forums - Ballarat Roundtable

On 26th May, 2009, a Health Workforce Round table was held in Ballarat. The workshop was initiated by The Medical Recruitment and Retention Working Group together with the Ballarat and District Division of General Practice who are concerned at the challenges of recruiting and supporting the health workforce to meet the community’s needs.

The major focus of the evening was to put the Ballarat communities’ health needs in the middle of the planning process and develop long term health workforce solutions around the regions requirements. This ensures that in all professional roles, the achievement will be the same – a co-ordinated approach to better health for the Ballarat region.

The workshop was hosted by the Rural Workforce Agency Victoria, as part of its Sustainable Practices Project, using funding from Regional Development Victoria (RDV).  The support of RDV is gratefully acknowledged. Input from the Ballarat & District Division of General Practice was also greatly appreciated.

The workshop format involved a series of presentations including introduction to the Medical Assistant role, the role of local government in recruitment, the benefits of mentors and pathways for GP training programs (including encouraging local GPs to be involved in GP training). There was also a panel discussion with three doctors describing their journey to becoming a General Practitioner, including barriers and enablers. The final session of the evening demonstrated GP pathways, challenges and opportunities for the future.

The key outcomes from the evening are outlined below and the presentations from the day have also been made available.


Key outcomes and future strategies

Future purpose:

“To improve local capacity to attract GP registrars and interns to Ballarat and District”.

 

  1. Taking a regional approach to working together for ensuring future attraction, recruitment and retention of medical registrars and students through the provision of appropriate accommodation.

    • Medical workforce recruitment and retention group to work collaboratively in conjunction with Allied Health, Universities, St John of God Health Centre, Ballarat Base Hospital, Local Government and Ballarat and District Division of General Practice in order to secure accommodation for multidisciplinary students.

  2. Increase the number of mentors for GPs by GPs and others in order to keep them interested and promote pathways

    • Local GPs, Ballarat and District Division of General Practice, University of Ballarat, Australian Catholic University and St John of God Health Centre to work collaboratively in order to increase awareness and the benefits of good mentoring relationships. This will be driven by the Medical Workforce Recruitment and Retention Working Group and the Ballarat and District Division of General Practice.

      • Students will be encouraged to link with the hospitals
      • Structured vertical integration will be established for students
      • Vertical integration starts at school, therefore rural high school visits program will be established

  3. Recruit more General Practices for future training positions and vertical integration, and increase the number of PGPPP places being offered

    • Dr Mark Yates will make himself available to assist practices with becoming accredited training practices, and the university will undertake practice visits and support. He can be contacted on 5320 3704.

    • Mayor Judy Verlin will continue talks with Ballarat and District Division of General Practice regarding town planning and car parking issues for practices

    • Ballarat and District Division of General Practice and Ballarat Base Hospital will continue with negotiations regarding increasing the number of PGPPP places

    • Kaye Philips, Victoria Felix Medical Education, to visit practices interested in becoming training practices

  4. Recruit ambassadors for the local government  web based attraction and retention to Ballarat online project: www.whatsballaratlike.com.au

    • Michelle O’Brien from Ballarat Community Health Centre will become an ambassador and encourage other newcomers to partake in the project

    • Ballarat and District Division of General Practice will financially support the ambassador program and will be a contact point for enquiries encouraging students to become ambassadors

    • Rebecca Biggs from City of Ballarat to roll out the pilot program and assess its outcomes before assisting other local governments in the area with a similar project plan


Presentations

 

Proudly sponsored by RDV