Aus doctors could soon bolster shortage on West Coast

Australian doctors could soon be crossing the ditch to train and work on the West Coast.

The region is the first in New Zealand to receive accreditation for training health professionals from the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine.

Dr Jordan Searle, a junior doctor on placement in Greymouth, has returned home after years overseas.

He said a "broader skill set" is a necessity when practising in the rugged and remote region.

"We don't have that sort of specialist service like orthopaedics or neurosurgery," he told 1News.

"Personally, as a junior, I think you do more over here."

Equipping doctors with the skills to work in more isolated environments is critical.

On the West Coast, residents know all too well the difficulties of accessing medical care.

Health New Zealand West Coast chief medical officer Dr Brendan Marshall said practices are "often one or two resignations or sick leave, or planned leave, away from your workforce looking OK or your roster's looking OK to be really vulnerable".

To help bolster their numbers, the region will soon deliver training from the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine.

The medical college is the "peak training body globally for training doctors as generalists, so doctors that can do primary care work like a GP but also work in a highly functional way in a hospital setting", board director Dr John Hall explained.

"That is, provide emergency care, provide certain operations and surgical care, anaesthetics and obstetrics."

New Zealand currently has 20 placements for rural medicine training, compared to 500 in Australia.

"The difference with the Australian model — and part of what we're trying to do on the Coast — is that real broader skills," Marshall said.

But patient advocate Malcolm Mulholland was sceptical the move would bring meaningful change to the already stretched workforce.

"I think it will make a little bit of difference, but it certainly won't make the big set change that needs to happen in terms of securing GPS to service the West Coast community," he said.

It's hoped Australian doctors will take up the opportunity to become Coasters and help build a more robust and sustainable workforce.

"To look after a community, you've gotta be part of it," Searle said.

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