SW to see more health care workers train through ECU as part of University Departments of Rural Health scheme

The South West health worker shortage has finally been addressed by the Federal Government following the announcement of a “game changer” training program to bring more nurses and doctors to the regions. The Morrison Government announced a $36 million grant to help address WA’s dire health worker shortage through the newly developed University Departments of Rural Health. The UDRH will see a “pipeline of students” from the healthcare sector work within the region for their placements to “to increase research into the health of the community”. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the program would positively affect the health workforce numbers in the regions. “The program extension we’ve announced today will result in 3000 additional placement weeks per year at full implementation — that’s up to 500 more students gaining rural clinical experience in Western Australia,” the Prime Minister said. In addition to the announcement, Edith Cowan University has been recognised as the UDRH’s newest partner, with deputy vice-chancellor Cobie Rudd personally pursuing the funding for the region. “The South West is one of the most rapidly growing regions in the country and this University Departments of Rural Health allows us to support many more students here locally so we can grow our own workforce going forward,” she said. “I cannot adequately describe what a difference this will make to the health workforce for the South West — it will be a critical component and will integrate well with the existing regional mix of public and private hospital and community services.” Professor Rudd said the program was set to introduce hundreds of new supervised rural health placements for all health disciplines, including the increased focus on improving Aboriginal health outcomes. “We want to show students from all health disciplines, the benefits of living and working in the region, to grow a sustainable workforce locally. ECU South West brings state of the art learning and teaching facilities including clinical laboratories, simulation suites and spanned classrooms which means you can beam lectures from elsewhere.” “The University Departments of Rural Health will mean students get travel and accommodation supported and their presence means the community get the advantage of welcome students as part of a supervised workforce, and get to see a future for themselves in the region more permanently.” The Prime Minister said the new UDRHs would have a real impact on health workforce numbers in the regions. Forrest MHR Nola Marino welcomed ECU to the program. “This is a very important initiative that will help address health workforce shortages in the South West, the fastest growing region in WA,” Mrs Marino said. This initiative expands the Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training program, which will now support 22 universities, forming a national network of 19 Rural Clinical Schools, 19 UDRHs and 26 Regional Training Hubs.