The Central Coast will soon see a boost to its healthcare workforce, with 70 medical graduate interns to start work at public hospitals in the region this month.
The region’s four Labor State MPs welcomed the new graduates this week.
Interns are medical graduates who have completed their medical degree and are required to complete a supervised year of practice in order to become independent practitioners.
The interns will work with and learn from NSW Health’s experienced and highly skilled medical staff.
The new doctors starting their internship will be entering a training program with networked hospitals throughout the state, providing formal and on-the-job training.
They receive two-year contracts to rotate between metropolitan, regional and rural hospitals to ensure the diversity of their experience.
They also rotate across different specialties during the intern year, including surgery, medicine and emergency medicine.
Minister for the Central Coast David Harris said the 70 new junior doctors would play an important role across the Central Coast in keeping communities safe.
“It has been tough for our health workers who have been left under-resourced and the NSW Government plans to rebuild the health workforce,” he said.
Member for Swansea Yasmin Catley said the doctors would learn from the best and lift the standard of care for locals.
“It’s a huge step towards rebuilding our healthcare workforce,” she said.
Member for the Entrance David Mehan said the past couple of years had been a challenge for health workers.
“We are investing and boosting our health workforce to improve health outcomes, it’s as simple as that,” he said.
Member for Gosford Liesl Tesch said health workers had been left under-resourced and underpaid for 12 years.
“The simple fact is that when we have a well-resourced healthcare system, we see improved health outcomes across our community,” she said.
“Ensuring that our hospitals have adequate staff to do what they do best is the absolute bedrock of ensuring these outcomes.”
The NSW Government is also: implementing safe staffing levels of nurses and midwives beginning in emergency departments; saving 1,112 temporary nurses by making them permanent; abolishing the wages cap and delivering record pay increases for nurses, paramedics and other health workers as well as salary packaging; beginning to roll out 500 additional paramedics in regional, rural and remote communities; and doubling the health worker study subsidies.