South West Healthcare has employed three trainee doctors undertaking their specialist emergency medicine training thanks to funding under the Emergency Medicine Programme (EMP) from the Commonwealth Government.

EMP funds Specialist Training Posts to enable trainee emergency doctors to experience the lifestyle and work environment of rural and regional settings.

Director of South West Healthcare Emergency Department and the Centre for Rural Emergency Medicine, Dr Tim Baker said ‘our aim is to help recruit rural medical students, train them locally at Deakin University and provide as much of their specialist training as possible, here in the country. This is the best way to have doctors build country lives and, therefore, stay in the country.’

In addition, the Emergency Education and Training (EMET) program provides surrounding small hospitals, including Portland, Camperdown, Terang and Hamilton with visits, assistance, and training from the emergency specialist doctors based at Warrnambool.

South West Healthcare is one of 43 EMET hubs across Australia. In the past 30 months, the EMET program has been responsible for delivering more than 3,000 training sessions to 25,000+ doctors and nurses in more than 200 regional, rural and remote hospitals.

The EMET programme seeks to improve care for patients requiring urgent and emergency medical services in rural and remote areas by providing education, training and support to the large number of doctors and nurses working in the smaller hospitals and emergency care services who are not specifically trained in emergency medical care.

Dan Tehan, Member for Wannon said “that programs such as the EMP and EMET help to encourage health professionals who are committed to rural and regional areas at the completion of their training.”