AMAV VICDOC Winter 2024 - Magazine - Page 89
ST E WA RT ' S A DV I C E
ON SPOUSAL SUPPORT AND
ACCESS TO CHILDCARE
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“If you're a doctor in the country it's
really important to have a supportive
spouse. I've often seen colleagues who
love the country, but their partner
doesn't. They might be planning to be
a specialist in Melbourne or Sydney,
and that doesn't gel with the other
partner wanting to live or work in the
bush. It's an area of rural generalism
that probably hasn't been looked at as
closely as it could be. I think if we had
a circumstance where there was spouse
support, it would help to attract GPs
to rural areas. We also need better and
more reliable childcare for working
parents, then seamless access into
primary school. We had one doctor
have to leave because she couldn't
find what she considered
adequate childcare.”
ON POLICY AND MEETING THE
NEEDS OF RURAL COMMUNITIES
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“I honestly think a mistake was made
back in the 1990s, when they greatly
reduced the number of medical school
places in Victoria on the grounds
that we could recruit overseas-trained
doctors. Initially they came from the
UK and South Africa, and then more
commonly, from sub-Asia and Eastern
Europe. While some of them are
excellent doctors, they don't tend to
want to settle in rural areas long-term.
They move to Melbourne or Sydney
the moment they're free to practice
anywhere and I can't blame them
for that, but it seemed a short-term
solution when they started it, and
that's been going on for 40 years now.
RE F L ECT I O N S
It’s made general practice much less
exciting for young graduates, and
it’s letting our rural communities down.”
ON HIS VISION FOR THE FUTURE
OF HEALTHCARE IN SWAN HILL
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“My aspiration would be to have a
group of younger GPs in one or two
practices that are keen to be brought
up to extra skills through the hospital,
particularly in A&E, obstetrics and
general medicine. A&E is especially
important as the Swan Hill Hospital
has to reply on locums – that’s not
sustainable. They would work in the
clinics but also spend some of their
time covering the hospital. Then there
would be another group of GPs who do
GP stuff and provided some outreach
services to surrounding towns, as we
have a patient load that comes from
an 80-kilometre radius. Some of that
could involve Telehealth – preferably
by video, as it’s too hard to get a handle
on your patient over the phone.”
ON RURAL GENERALISM AS A CAREER
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“You get to be what I call a proper
doctor, where you’re caring for multiple
generations of a family. You’re caring
for little patients that you’ve delivered,
whose mother you’d looked after
through her pregnancy. You'd been
treating the grandparents for various
chronic disease processes, and you'd
probably have the great grandparents
in care in one of the nursing homes.
My view is that it makes for a very
satisfying professional and personal life.
Sometimes the two impinge on each
other, but it’s a good life.”
VI CD O C WI NTER 2024
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