Why Western NSW

In Western NSW, you can live your best life while growing your career at a much faster pace than in the city. Whether you choose us as part of your career plan, or are ready to use your skills in an inclusive and collaborative team, we want you to join us.
Search Western NSW health careers 

Cowra region

Join our team

Western NSW Local Health District is unlike anywhere else. We attract clinicians with a sense of adventure and a ‘can do’ attitude, who work to the top of their scope and enjoy a fulfilling life outside of work

We promote greater autonomy and responsibility and support you in an inclusive, collaborative and caring team environment with a better work-life balance and more time for you.

Learn more about our organisation

Three regional NSW Registered Nurses smiling
Challenge yourself

Bring your purpose to life, broaden your scope and fast track your career, experiencing a broad range of interesting presentations. Be supported through training and education.  

Nurse having video consultation
Make an impact

We’re world-recognised leaders in the delivery of virtual care as we strive toward our goal of healthier rural people, close the gap on Aboriginal health and build thriving communities.

A midwife holding a baby
Shape the future

Join us be a part of shaping the future of rural health. Our world-renowned models of care including Virtual Rural Generalist Service, Virtual Allied Health and Virtual Pharmacy, all deliver care closer to the homes of our clients.


Our Employee Value Proposition

"You’re here to experience a broad range of interesting and challenging work scenarios that will bring your purpose to life, broaden your scope and fast track your career.

You’re here because greater autonomy and responsibility is your thing, your skills will be developed to reach your potential, and we’ll support your wellbeing in an inclusive and collaborative team where diversity is valued.

You’re here because we are world-recognised leaders in the delivery of virtual care as we strive for healthier rural people and thriving communities.

But the main reason you’re here is because you want to be part of shaping the future of rural health.

Sometimes it will be hard, other times demanding, but we promise it will always be extremely rewarding."
 

Incentives

We offer a range of clinical roles in unique and interesting locations. Our team need you to help them deliver our services. Join us and enjoy a range of great perks – whether it's a year or a lifetime – it will be an experience you'll never forget.

Incentives are available for a range of positions that have been identified as hard to fill by NSW Health. Any position can qualify, but they are usually Nursing and Allied Health roles in our smaller multipurpose sites.

Financial incentives
  • Up to $20,000 to relocate and join us
  • Up to $10,000 each year you stay

     

Help to move and live

We'll help you start fresh in Western NSW with some positions providing relocation benefits such as moving costs and family travel assistance.

We'll also provide accommodation assistance when you get here for certain roles.

Leave to learn

We'll support your career progression by providing additional leave for professional development, so you can keep learning.

You'll get time to gain new skills to reach your full potential.

Common questions about incentives

What positions and locations are available?

Positions and locations receiving incentives are subject to certain criteria that can change over time.  AIN roles do not currently qualify for incentivised positions. View an up-to-date list of positions attracting incentives.

How do I know if it's an incentivised role?

‘Incentives offered’ will be clearly displayed in the advertisement.

How long do I have to stay?

We ask that you stay for a minimum of 18 months, that way you’ll get access to a retention bonus too. If you leave before 18 months you'll have to pay back a component of your sign on bonus.

Do existing staff receive incentives too?

Yes, if your role is deemed hard to fill then you will also receive the retention bonus according to your facility's remoteness. If you're not already receiving this, please talk to your manager.

How do I find out more?

Got more questions about incentives? You can email us: wnswlhd-incentives@health.nsw.gov.au 


Our region and lifestyle

Feeling the stress of daily life? Living in Western NSW comes with many benefits for you and your family. Enjoy a slower pace of life, become part of our friendly and diverse communities, take part in a range of sporting and leisure activities and experience improved work-life balance.

Explore our region and way of life 

Picture of a young family enjoying a picnic

Getting around and away

Fly direct to Dubbo from Sydney in just 1 hour or Melbourne in 2 hours. Direct flights are available to Sydney from Dubbo, Orange, Parkes, Mudgee, Cobar and Bourke and to Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Newcastle and Broken Hill from Dubbo and Orange.

Once you land at Dubbo or Orange, enjoy a scenic drive through Australian bushland to any of our smaller hospitals or Multipurpose Services, which will take between 1 to 4.5 hours, depending on the location.

Download our map with approximate travel times (PDF 763.23KB)

Learn more about our facilities and communities

Map of approx. travel times around Western NSW LHD

Our hospitals and facilities

We care for close to 270,000 people in our hospitals and health facilities, which include:

  • the largest rural mental health service in Australia
  • 3 major rural referral hospitals at Orange, Dubbo and Bathurst
  • 38 inpatient facilities including 25 Multipurpose Services and District Health Services at Mudgee, Cowra, Parkes and Forbes.

From large regional centres to small community health facilities – Western NSW LHD covers our vast and diverse community.

Featured facilities

See a snapshot of some of our unique facilities and learn about our communities.

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Orange Health Service building

Orange Health Service

With a focus on innovative models of care, Orange Health Service is the largest rural hospital in New South Wales and the regional teaching, referral and trauma centre for the Central West. 

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Dubbo Hospital

Dubbo Health Service

Dubbo Health Service is a large rural referral service, situated 450kms North West of Sydney. The Health Service has a 160 acute bed inpatient service, Emergency Department and provides nearly 200,000 specialist outpatient appointments per year. 

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Mudgee Health Service

Mudgee Health Service

Mudgee Health Service consists of Mudgee Hospital, with a level 3 emergency department and inpatient beds, as well as community health services.

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Bourke Health Service

Bourke Health Service

Bourke Health Service consists of a Multipurpose Service with an emergency department, inpatient beds and residential aged care beds, as well as community health services. 

Our people

Get a feel for what it's like working in our LHD by hearing the stories of our dedicated team.

5:01

Meet our Western NSW GP VMOs

Our GP VMO team talks about their experiences and support they receive to be their best while working in regional NSW.

Read transcript
Video transcript

Meet our Western NSW GP VMOs

[On-screen text]

Challenge yourself
Make an impact
Shape the future

Working as a GP VMO in Western NSW

[Dr Shannon Nott - Director of Rural Medical Services, Western NSW Local Health District]

Working as a rural generalist in Western New South Wales Local Health District is an exciting and rewarding career path.

First of all you get to be able to service some of Australia's most iconic outback rural communities and be able to practice a full gamut of medicine from quality primary care in the community through to emergency department presentations through to inpatients well so you'd be able to get to follow patients through the healthcare continuums from pretty much cradle to grave

[Dr Sally Plunkett, Dunedoo]

I really enjoy the the balance of my work as a through the general practice and then in through the E.D looking after the hospital patients and then as well, I  also provide aged care services too. I love the variety in my work.

[Dr Robin Williams, Molong]

More than anything, I wanted to be a GP with visiting rights at a hospital because I think in order to work in a small community it's great to have that continuity of care.

[Dr Kellie Mathieson, Nyngan]

The best thing about rural general medicine would have to be the variety you know you're managing the patient from start to finish, you're seeing the follow-up, you're seeing things that we don't often see so much in the city you know we manage far beyond the scope of what some city doctors do so we really get that interaction from the start to finish with the patient.

[Dr Priyantha Wijesurendra, Narromine]

You are at the coal face, you get to do that you know you get to put those lines in, you get to see the patients when they're really sick and you're part of a community that's very appreciative of you being there.

[Dr Kellie Mathieson, Nyngan]

And that for me is really rewarding to see what i'm doing is actually making a difference out here. It's not a case where you just see a patient and then you never hear what happens to them again. Mostly for me it's the community side being valued as being part of the community being able to do something make a difference for a small community it's very rewarding work.

[Dr Shannon Nott - Director of Rural Medical Services, Western NSW Local Health District]

The virtual rural general service, which is the first in Australia, allow us to be able to support rural and remote health professionals in in rural environments our vcare service allows us to be able to provide that specialist emergency care to patients alongside our rural generalists on the ground.

[Dr Sally Plunkett, Dunedoo]

With my VMO I'm supported overnight with the virtual rural doctor service so it means i'm able to find a real balance with my work and my personal life.

[Dr Priyantha Wijesurendra, Narromine]

The VRGS is available to provide overnight coverage for the stuff that you don't necessarily need to be rung about okay at two o'clock in the morning

[Dr Robin Williams, Molong]

That's where the v care really comes into its own because that means that I'm not on call every day um 24 hours a day i'm there i will do my work but I've got support and there's a backup.

[Dr Priyantha Wijesurendra, Narromine]

The work was really good it was rewarding and you know you get to do stuff that you wouldn't normally do in you know a place like you know Sydney or Melbourne and the smaller towns are nicer in that sense. Yeah it's more sense of community in a sense.

[Dr Shannon Nott - Director of Rural Medical Services, Western NSW Local Health District]

So one of the things that you know when you work for Western New South Wales as a rural generalist is that we have your back and that your colleagues have your back and that regardless of whether you live in the most remote community in our region or one of the larger district hospitals you've got a network of peers who will work with you to provide excellent healthcare.

[Dr Kellie Mathieson, Nyngan]

I've got a lot more variety out here I see a greater range of presentations and i have greater work with greater collaboration with specialists in town you know they all know me I know them I can pick up the phone and call them on their mobile any time in the day or night for a bit of advice and those great working relationships, which i just find my colleagues in the city don't have those same sort of connections which are much easier to make when you're out in the country, people know who you are.

[Dr Shannon Nott - Director of Rural Medical Services, Western NSW Local Health District]

Many of our rural generalists across Western New South Wales maintain areas of interest outside of I suppose the clinical day-to-day.

[Dr Kellie Mathieson, Nyngan]

Been on the university admissions board for the University of Wollongong for the interviews for med students. Another thing that i'm involved with is the training of registrars.

[Dr Robin Williams, Molong]

I've been sort of hijacked by the Primary Health Network and they asked me to join their board and I'm now chair of the Primary Health Network for Western New South Wales, which is a very interesting role. So that the medicine itself is fascinating, you're not isolated uh you know and you can really feel that you make a contribution to your patients lives which is what i went into medicine for.

[Dr Kellie Mathieson, Nyngan]

I would say come out and do it don't be afraid do it, the reality is if you do it you're going to love it, it's such a great place to work really so much better than working in the city for sure.

[On-screen text]

Challenge yourself
Make an impact
Shape the future
Join us

3:41

Kidney Specialist James Collett, Physiotherapist Melinda Collett

"The opportunities I could get in Dubbo far outweighed anything I could get in Sydney."

Read transcript
Video transcript

Kidney Specialist James Collett, Physiotherapist Melinda Collett

[On-screen text]

Why the move to Dubbo?

[Dr James Collett, Kidney Specialist - Dubbo Hospital]

So, we were living in Darwin um during my last year of training in Darwin and we had an interest in healthcare in rural areas I guess but I'm always from Sydney lived and grew up in Sydney but realised in Darwin that maybe not going back to Sydney was a good idea and a job came up basically in Dubbo as a specialist and they're hard to get in Sydney um and I thought the opportunities that I could get early on in Dubbo far outweighed the ones that would be available in Sydney and battling away in Sydney for years to try and get a similar position and uh we decided to come here and and check it out and uh there was no job for Melinda but um that seemed to work itself out as well.

[Inteviewer]

So what did you think about that idea when it first came up, Melinda?

[Melinda Collett]

Ah, look I think it's safe to say I was pretty hesitant about it, um I had not been to Dubbo except for a weekend before James had been here as a junior doctor, so I'd come and done the zoo and then gone back home, so when the idea arose i was more anxious than James about it but James had known two of the other kidney specialists and had had a really good time working with them as a junior doctor so I guess the biggest thing was taking that leap of faith and you know coming to to see how it went.

[Dr James Collett, Kidney Specialist - Dubbo Hospital]

I think you laughed when i suggested it initially.

[Melinda Collett]

But uh you know Dubbo has worked out really well we're both having an absolute ball. I am enjoying it far more than what I thought I would and now i just need to convince my family that as well because they're still a little bit uncertain about us being here but no, we've really settled into life very, very quickly in Dubbo and uh yeah definitely having a great time.

[Inteviewer]

So what is it about dubbo that you love?

[Melinda Collett]

Do you want to go?

[Dr James Collett, Kidney Specialist - Dubbo Hospital]

Um look i think firstly work's really good, um we both love work at the moment and for me the colleagues I work with are all young and dynamic and I think in a rural area that's actually unusual but there's a whole bunch of us. I'm you know you know mid to late 30s so social things are great, so i think yeah work certainly for me um and lifestyle you know things are just simpler in Dubbo and we really like that it's seven minutes to work um you cut back a lot of time that you normally spend in sydney travelling by actually doing things you want to do and we've made friends outside of work and everyone in dubbo at work or not are just really friendly and nice and yeah we've really enjoyed that.

[Inteviewer]

Do you feel like you're missing out not living in the city?

[Melinda Collett]

No

[Dr James Collett, Kidney Specialist - Dubbo Hospital]

That was quick, no I think um I'm surprised how little we we feel like we're missing out when we started here everyone sold it to us and said oh look you can still go back to Sydney and look Dubbo is amazingly well serviced and I think there's seven flights a day but um and we thought oh well we can still do that but i mean i haven't been back to Sydney for six months until last week and uh Melinda's only been back a couple of times and we've had a lot of visitors mostly family because again our family come out here and spend a week and actually we get better quality time with them that way than if we went to Sydney and um yeah there's nothing really in Sydney, uh other than family.

[On-screen text]

Dubbo Hospital Careers
A move to Dubbo could make all the difference!
Apply at https://www.nsw.gov.au/health/wnswlhd/careers
@dubbohospitalcareers

0:59

Meet Isabella - GradStart Western NSW

After moving from Wollongong, newly graduated Registered Nurse Isabella is loving relaxed country life, working in both Dubbo and Gilgandra.

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Video transcript

Meet Isabella - GradStart Western NSW

I'm Isabella Dark and I'm a Registered Nurse at Gilgandra MPS.

I am a new graduate Registered Nurse, I finished uni last year. So I did 6 months at Dubbo Base Hospital and 6 months out here at Gilgandra, so that's a supported program that we do for our first year out of uni, just so we can get our competencies marked off and learn the skills in a safer environment.

I moved from Wollongong at the beginning of the year to Dubbo. I've really enjoyed being out in the country, it's quite relaxed, everyone's really nice, I've made lots of friends, no traffic - that's good. Yeah, just really love how relaxed it is, how easy going and just really loving that change from the city and the busyness of that.

3:54

Tim Stanley, Head of ICU , Dubbo Health Service

"Everybody tends to get to know each other and that makes it a very warm and friendly place to work."

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Video transcript

Tim Stanley, Head of ICU , Dubbo Health Service

[Music]

I grew up out this way so I've seen changes not just what we're about to see in intensive care at Dubbo into the new unit, I was here as a junior doctor when in the previous unit and the previous emergency department and I also grew up out here as a boy, so I've seen Dubbo grow from the signs into town of about 28 000 population to what I think is probably in excess of 50,000 population now in the surrounding areas so I have have some family growing up experience here

I came here as a junior doctor to work almost exactly 25 years ago and in more recent years I had the opportunity to come back on a regular basis to to work in the intensive care unit again here at Dubbo at this time as a specialist.  It's rewarding in the sense that the hospital itself is big enough that you see everything that you need to see in terms of career satisfaction and or case mix, but hospital's small enough that you know everybody else in the hospital so what that means in terms of dealing with your medical, surgical, anaesthetic, emergency, physician, obstetric colleagues is that you know all of these people quite well and with that relationship it makes it a lot easier in dealing with patients.

People tend to be very supportive of each other and and there's a clear focus on making sure that when we're in trouble with someone who's unwell that people work very well together to try and deal with that. So that's just the medical staff I think you also in a place this size tends to know the nursing staff around the place and the allied health staff around the place the clerical staff around the place. Everybody tends to get to know each other and that makes it a very warm and friendly place to work, but particularly from a primary medical work point of view the collegiality is really special in a place of this size.

The other things that make a satisfy for me as a specialist that certainly compared to when i was a junior doctor here 25 years ago the middle grade of residence and registrars and and that includes training registrars has grown enormously so that's very helpful as a specialist in terms of having those people to help you with the work but it's incredibly rewarding for me as a specialist because they are keen and enthusiastic they they like to be taught. The education programs that are in place for them and the ability to teach  and learn both me to them and and also from them to me is great.  So they they rotate through some of the Sydney hospitals but there's also a good bunch of locally and local people who work here so so the middle grade registrar residence staff are great.

The other thing I'd say about the registrars is that because a number of them rotate from hospitals like Prince Alfred, it also gives us a professional link, with hospitals like Prince Alfred so I not only enjoy collegiality here I enjoy a working relationship with a number of specialists in the trainees at the larger hospitals for example Prince Alfred in Sydney and that's very that can be very helpful at times,  you don't feel - at least I don't feel here in any way that I'm isolated from from collegial support and certainly compared to 25 years ago when I worked here the the advent of things like telehealth video links just even simple things like mobile phone technology has made us essentially all virtually next door so the opportunity to tap into the resources at bigger hospitals when you need to do that that's really straightforward.

They also tend to be very supportive of you in a rural area which is which is fantastic.

[Music]

3:35

Rural Generalist Nurse Training

Get an introduction to our Rural Generalist Nurse Education Program in Western NSW with an overview and the benefits of participating.

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Video transcript

Rural Generalist Nurse Training

[Music] The rural generalist nurse education program was developed through some identified gaps that were found in the onboarding process and then transitioning nurses from new staff all the way through to advanced clinicians.

In collaboration with the organisational development unit from the workforce and culture directorate, the quality clinical safety and nursing directorate and the virtual rural generalist service -  11 key areas were identified to be addressed through this program.

The resources were developed in collaboration with the rural generalist nurse education team, virtual doctors and other clinical experts within the district. 

Initially the resources developed included a workbook and powerpoint presentations that were delivered locally at facilities.

Through evaluation and feedback we were able to evolve the program to now include e-learning workbooks in my health learning, videos of the assessments taking place and quick reference guides available on the intranet.

As part of this process we developed qr codes for staff to easily access the information 24 hours a day. Staff can easily scan the qr codes and be taken to the rural generalist nurse education pages on the district's intranet.

Those intranet pages contain all the modules and information that is taught in the program. 

An example of this would be using the qr code to access the RGnet pages on plastering and there they have a number of videos showing a number of different plaster of paris backslabs that are relevant, appropriate and safe for the rural generalist nurse to apply. 

Additionally, they can access all the assessment videos in one location -  they scan the appropriate qr code and this takes them to an external youtube channel that is private for the district where they can see all these assessment videos in one go.

As part of the program evolution we now have virtual education available for staff by moving the resources online. We have freed up time from the clinical nurse educators to be able to provide support and coaching in real time, and this is done at the bedside.

The rural generalist nurse education program has been really beneficial to me as a new grad it has really helped broaden my scope and practice my assessment skills.

I think I'll be able to better communicate with everybody in the team and use the skills that I've learned through bedside coaching and through the program to be able to communicate with the doctors about my findings through the assessment and using the handover tool, so can confidently and effectively communicate information.

If you have the opportunity to get into the program, take everything that is been provided, because it for me i found it really beneficial to be able to develop new skills and also use these in everyday nursing practices and has provided me lots of opportunity to grow and develop.

This program has been a great example of the collaboration that can be achieved across groups within the district it has allowed us to develop a program that has set a foundation for new staff into our rural and remote facilities and start them on their journey to become a rural generalist nurse

3:15

Dr Kate Crossley, Neurologist, Dubbo

“My proudest achievement is establishing a stroke pathway which is improving the care of patients."

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Video transcript

Dr Kate Crossley, Neurologist, Dubbo

[Dr Kate Crossley - Neurologist, Dubbo Hospital]

Hi, I'm Dr Kate Crossley, Neurologist at Dubbo Hospital.

I'm proud to call myself a pioneer in public neurology services in Western New South Wales, but now the demand for the service is outgrowing me and I need your help. A move to Dubbo could be all the difference you need to make.

It's really exciting actually because there's there's so many things that have improved and changed as a result of having permanent staff here myself really in neurology. 

I think some of the biggest achievements that I'm proudest of include the stroke pathways, so I've been able to develop and implement a new stroke pathway that's evidence-based medicine that is improving the care of patients throughout Western New South Wales and that's been a huge reward and then obviously the other major thing i'm really proud about is the development of the neuro physiology service, so this is the first public neuro physiology service west of the Blue Mountains and it provides EEG and nerve conduction studies to all patients, inpatients, outpatients and that's just such a vital piece of investigative medicine to have here.

Something that I really find rewarding is that there's the University of Sydney Medical School here as well and so I have regular teaching sessions with medical students. I also do some lectures to the students and to the junior medical officers which is really good fun and you get a much closer bond with the junior colleagues here than you do in city hospitals.

One of the things that was a bit scary to me moving to the country was the thought that I would lose that collegiality and neurology is a specialty where you really rely heavily on having peers available to discuss cases, but what I've been able to do here is to have meetings with the neurologists down in Orange and also like peers at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney and that's enabled me to share those cases with with my peers.

I've also been able to attend lots of international and Australian conferences to keep my education levels up and the hospital is very supportive of all those activities to keep us abreast of current medicine which has been very reassuring for me in terms of my current knowledge and professional development.

There's lots of things that I'd really like to do here in Dubbo to build the neurology services, I'd love to have a neuro-vestibular laboratory here, I'd love to start neuro maternity clinics to focus on people who are pregnant and have neurological issues. Obviously, there's work still to be done with building the stroke unit here, there's such a lot of new research happening in stroke medicine and it would be good to make Dubbo part of that research community as well but I can't do all those things here by myself unfortunately and I really need other neurologists to come and join me to help build this service.

[On-screen text]

Dubbo Hospital Careers
A move to Dubbo could make all the difference!
@dubbohospitalcareers

3:55

GradStart in Western NSW LHD

Our regional and rural Gradstart graduates get ‘hands on’ much earlier than their metropolitan counterparts.

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Video transcript

GradStart in Western NSW LHD

[On-screen text]
Nursing and midwifery
Every person
Every time
Exceptional care

Theatres - Dubbo Base Hospital

[Nurse]

I'm just getting an urgent cesarean section down, so you can go and have the girls in one.

[Holly - Registered Nurse]

I can do that. My name is Holly and I am a Registered Nurse working in Dubbo Theatres. I graduated uni in 2019 and started with New South Wales Health in the GradStart program, which enabled me to transition into my nursing career
with a little bit more support from educators and other nurses.

There's always so much to learn as a nurse so it sort of just enabled me to continue learning as I was practicing and starting my nursing career.

Know what we're doing for you today?

[Patient]

Yeah.

[Holly - Registered Nurse]

Are you warm enough?

[Patient]

Yeah.

[Holly - Registered Nurse]

Comfortable?

[Patient]

No worries at all.

[Holly - Registered Nurse]

Perfect, all right, I'll see you in there in a minute.

[Patient]

Thanks Holly.

[Cameron - GradStart Registered Nurse]

Just let me know all right if you need anything. Do you need anything? Buzz me if you need me, ok?

My name is Cameron, I am a new Grad RN at Dubbo Base Hospital.

The last four weeks of being a new Grad RN, I felt very supported. We've actually got quite a lot of mentors and buddies so we've got our educators as I've got Hayley in G Ward.

Last but not least. Perfect

The order is one gram and we've got normal saline 500, ends in and September 22.

[Hayley]

Fabulous.

[Cameron - GradStart Registered Nurse]

It's a really good culture, especially where i am at the moment. We're doing 3 rotations over 12 months so I'm in G Ward, for another 2 months I believe?

I hope that I go to the ICU.

I'm gonna increase the infusion rate to a bit higher, okay?

[Holly - Registered Nurse]

I did my first rotation at Dubbo Hospital in the operating theatre, so in the perioperative environment. It was completely new to me, all of it, but I just loved it. I loved standing right beside the surgeon and helping them and knowing that I'm helping the patient as well.

[Cameron - GradStart Registered Nurse]

In Dubbo you can say hi to most people and they'll say hi back. I've built quite a life here with just work and you know some of them, these nurses have become my closest friends.

So, I'm actually a Newcastle boy. I moved here to start studying my EN, so I decided to get back into football, soccer. I've coached the under eights and I also play first and second grades, so I play for South Dubbo Wanderers. It's my second family.

[Holly - Registered Nurse]

I just love the Dubbo community, everything you need is in Dubbo and the fact that the hospital is expanding so much is helping us, in a, from a health point of view. My fiance lives in Wellington, which is only 30 minutes away. We, we're
gonna build Geary, which is halfway between the two.

[Cameron - GradStart Registered Nurse]

So, Robin, we're just going to take you down to the transit lounge, okay?

The best thing about nursing is you can make a difference. We are lucky enough to have a massive impact on patients lives.

[Holly - Registered Nurse]

Yeah, I'm very, very lucky I love what I do. I would 100 recommend the GradStart Program. The support that the educators give you is amazing, there's always someone around to help when you're a GradStart nurse. There's so many resources available to you as a grad start nurse so it's, it was just a fantastic start to my nursing career. I don't have one regret at all about applying for a GradStart position with New South Wales Health.

[On-screen text]

NSW Helath Nursing and Midwifery Office
GradStart Nursing and Midwifery recruitment
health.nsw.gov.au/nursing/employment/Pages

1:19

Virtual Clinical Pharmacy Service in Western NSW

Our Virtual Clinical Pharmacy Service gives NSW pharmacists access to patients, doctors and nurses in remote hospitals via telehealth.

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Video transcript

Virtual Clinical Pharmacy Service in Western NSW

[Brett Chambers]

We've got a problem which happens right around Australia and actually across the world where we've got people spread out over very large geographical area and it's not cost effective or feasible to have a pharmacist at each of our health services in our district. So what we've done is we're using virtual Healthcare so things like video conferencing to take pharmacists to the patients at the bedside and we're able to help patients and doctors and nursing staff to safely use medications at their Hospital.

I remember a case where I saw a patient at one of our small rural hospitals and he'd come in becoming increasingly unwell unable to keep food down and it turns out it was actually caused by one of his medications. And you know the doctor called me and said I think this is related to medications, I'm not really sure. When through interviewing the patient and going through his story and looking at his laboratory results it was clear to me that it was caused by a medication and were able to quickly fix that, reduce the dose right down and and get him out of Hospital.

1:10

Rural Generalist Nurse Training in Western NSW

Sonia is a passionate Regional Nurse Educator at Western NSW Local Health District who works with new rural nursing graduates.

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Video transcript

Rural Generalist Nurse Training in Western NSW

[Sonia Bonham - Gilgandra Hospital, Regional Nurse Education Western NSW LHD]

The modules, uh it's a framework so if someone entered into our facility and was starting the ARGN program, they would enrol online through My Health Learning and get access to a workbook and some learning modules and some videos and when they were happy that they understood the content then an educator like myself or a CNE would come out to the sites and we'd work one-on-one and just go through their understanding of that and do a verification to make sure that they're at a standard a level of adept, that then provided them with these skills to be able to work autonomously in our facilities, but part of a team.

[Isabella Dark - Registered Nurse, Gilgandra Hospital]

It's an amazing change. I didn't think that I would like it at the beginning but moved out here and within a month I knew that I wanted to stay and not go home, so just branch out and have a go. It's easy to make friends, get involved in the community. It's great, everyone's welcoming, it's a great change so if you're considering it, do it.

[on-screen text]

Apply now to work in Regional NSW

iworkfornsw.gov.au

 

 

2:59

The new Western cancer centre - Dubbo

Discover the new world-class Western Cancer Centre in Dubbo which is advancing cancer care for regional patients.

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Video transcript

The new Western cancer centre - Dubbo

[Music]

So here we are in the new Western Cancer Center Dubbo We're standing in the radiation therapy suites and we're looking at opening this in the next few weeks

[Radiation Therapy Suite]

Additionally next door to the radiation bunker will be a new pet scanner looking at opening in the next few months and upstairs a 16 bed chemotherapy unit which is doubling the size of the chemotherapy services in Dubbo.

[Wellness Centre]

Next door to the chemotherapy suite will be a wellness centre which will provide allied health and other non-medicalservices which people living with cancer and their families will need from across the whole the west of new south wales.

Within the new cancer center there'll also be a clinical trials unit which will be looking at providing clinical trials locally to try to stop the amount of people needing to travel to sydney to access these very critical parts of cancer treatment

[Treatment Area]

It's really exciting to be standing within the new Western Cancer Centre Dubbo in the treatment area. We will give anti-cancer treatments this area located on floor 1, along with the clinics where you will see the doctors for your appointments. Down on the ground floor is the radiation therapy unit and that's where you'll go for your radiation therapy.

[Car Parking]

We have car parking close by and that will continue to increase in number as the car park is developed on the western side of the campus just near us but at the moment we'll need to park in the main car park and come through the unit.

The Western Cancer Centre here in Dubbo has really amazing world-class equipment so that'll allow patients with tumors in all different anatomical sites to receive their treatment here. Treatment can go for several weeks and that's a real great  advantage of this centre that patients are no longer travelling to Orange, Sydney, Newcastle or Canberra to get radiotherapy treatment,  They can have it here closer to home so the whole family patient carers are all benefited from patients receiving this sophisticated treatment locally.

[Training Pathways]

This cancer centre will provide benefits not just to this community but to the staff within the hospital it's able to provide people with training pathways which were not there previously.

The new ortho voltage machine will provide a comprehensive training center for radiation not just for radiation nurses but radiation therapists and radiation oncologists in Dubbo.

We'll be looking at trying to provide more allied health training pathways and opening up greater opportunities for people to move to Dubbo and live in Dubbo and further their careers.

We're bringing an amazing team of radiation oncology professionals out to a regional area from all over Australia and they all feel really honoured to be part of delivering this sophisticated advanced treatment to cancer patients in regional areas. It's been a long project that is finally come to fruition and uh we can't wait to get in and serve the community.

[Music]

2:15

Rima – Nursing Unit Manager

A lifestyle change in Dubbo has provided everything that Rima and her family could ask for and more.

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Rima – Nursing Unit Manager

[Rima Chaurisa, Nurse Unit Manager, Dubbo Hospital]

I came to Sydney where it was a great platform.

I learned a lot that's where it gave me confidence to explore outside my box and it showed me my capabilities, like you know what can I achieve.

And but after I met my husband had a family, my daughter was one and a half and she was playing with a laptop and iPad and it was raining outside and we lived in a very small unit it was like a covered world and I thought, well when I was growing up it was so much fun and look at her what I am giving like you know, that's what I am providing her and I was like nah I need to change, yeah.

I came from small country, a small place in a small country from a village and Dubbo, when we came to Dubbo we were like this is the weather is similar to where I come from and yeah this was it.

It is very, very rewarding, it is, you feel sense of satisfaction because either there is some like you know there is always issues that you need to solve and you know when you you are giving your best your 100 percent you feel so rewarded when you go home you feel that sense of satisfaction and that's what I feel, yeah it's really great to work here.

Like you know when when people say work life balance this is the example this is the prime example, I can spend so much time with my daughter we and she has got two best best friends, so we have got very social activities going together. 

We go to park every weekend there is some sort of function that I am yeah like you know it's home away from home i feel very, very, very, very connected and I feel really homely.

I would say there's heaps and heaps of potential and opportunities there's work-life balance, like you know when you have got great career which is backed by your family life and it takes off all the boxes doesn't it.

[On-screen text]

Dubbo Hospital Careers
A move to Dubbo could make all the difference!
@dubbohospitalcareers

 

3:39

Careers and canapes

Senior medical students and junior doctors joined Western NSW LHD senior medical specialists for an unique night of medical 'speed dating.'

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Careers and canapes

[on-screen text]

Careers and canapes

Medical students and JMOs talk to specialists about their career future

[Dr Budhima Nanyakkara - Director of Pre-vocational Education and Training, Orange Health Service]

The aim of this event really is to showcase the entirety of the specialties on offer at orange health service and also to provide a networking event between the junior doctors the senior medical students as well as the senior specialists

[Associate Professor Catherine Hawke - Deputy Head University of Sydney School of Rural Health]

Some of these students only spend a year with us, the other time they are in actually in metropolitan areas, where it would probably be very hard to get such a lovely experience as being able to talk informally to consultants having a drink and delicious food.

[Dr Budhima Nanyakkara - Director of Pre-vocational Education and Training, Orange Health Service]

Today it's very informal, very casual as you can see,  we've got a few specialists in groups arranged in tables and the students and junior doctors will take eight minutes at each table like a speed dating service just but for medicine and for doctors.

[Dr Xavier Fitzgerald - RMO, Orange Health Service]

I learned plenty tonight i learned a lot and i think the best part about all the clinicians here and you speak to people about what you want to do and they are just you know very happy to just, you know, either tell you that there's other options or there's things available, or help you facilitate what you want.

[Dr Jackson Blythe - RMO, Orange Health Service]

The benefit of events like tonight is that you really are shown different perspectives and different ways of seeing career paths -  you're really shown how flexible medicine can be as a career and the options that are available to you within Orange.

[Dr Katie Hobbs - JMO, Orange Health Service]

Tonight it's been really good in terms of being able to talk to a whole bunch of different surgical specialties as well as O&G and then just to hear little bits and pieces from different specialties that perhaps I haven't really heard much about or people I haven't really met with or interacted with before, as well as just meeting people who I work with in the hospital or different specialties that I'll have to interact with and building some rapport.

[Dr Lauren Bradbury - Medical Oncology Staff Specialist & Director of Physicians Training, Orange Health Service]

I think these events are so important. My main purpose for coming this evening was to talk to the interns and residents about the things that I wish i had been told as I came up through my training. I think there's a lot of misconceptions out there about you know taking time out from your training exploring other things, taking time to travel and really get to know yourself as a person before you decide on a specialty.

[Dr Clair Whelan - Urological Surgeon, Director of Surgery, Orange Health Service]

One of the main reasons I want to come was to fly the flag for obviously for surgical specialties in general but also just that connection with the medical students we don't necessarily get all the time but we get to do a little bit extra. It's always interesting to see how early people have started to think about what they're going to do and where they're going to work and having such variety in the kinds of things they're interested in.

[Dr Lauren Bradbury - Medical Oncology Staff Specialist & Director of Physicians Training, Orange Health Service]

I think the main questions for Dr Zelinski and I are asked about is why we enjoy the specialty I think that you know there's a lot of people's perceptions of oncology is that it's a very sad specialty and you know how do we deal with that, what are the things that make us tick, what do we enjoy the most about our job. We see patients that they're most vulnerable and it is a real privilege to look after them, so sharing that with the trainees today and helping them understand that about our specialty.

[Dr Jackson Blythe - RMO, Orange Health Service]

I mean a lot of the advice we're getting tonight is more general you know, speaking to an orthopedic surgeon not about training towards orthopedic fellowship, but what makes a good life as a doctorand how to balance your needs with developing your medical career.

[on-screen text]

Challenge yourself
Make an impact
Shape the future

Join us

 

3:38

4T's Single Employer Rural Generalist model

We're leading an innovative whole-of-health approach to care in rural communities, servicing the 4Ts (Tottenham, Trangie, Trundle, Tullamore).

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4T's Single Employer Rural Generalist model

The 4Ts: A primary care model for rural communities and their clinicians

[Amelia Haigh - 4Ts Project Lead]

The Four T’s model is a single employer model providing whole of healthcare in small rural communities.  The Four Ts are four small rural communities in Central New South Wales. The towns are Tottenham, Tullamore, Trundle and Trangie with  approximately less than 1,500 people in each town. All four communities are situated very closely within about 30 to 45 minutes of each other and in less than two hours 
from the nearest base hospital.

[Dr Shannon Nott - Rural Director Medical Services, Western NSW LHD]

The Four Ts is an ecosystem of one practice across multiple communities where our staff, our key clinicians, our administrative staff are able to work together to meet the community's need. It takes away that administrative burden, it takes away the challenges of running a business and it allows us to bring in people who are experts in providing care and focus on patients.

[Amelia Haigh - 4Ts Project Lead]

Essentially what that has meant for the four communities of Tottenham, Tullamore, Trundle and Trangie has access to a primary care clinic co-located with their local Multipurpose Health Service. The primary care clinics operate just like a GP practice with a GP, a primary care nurse an administration staff member and also a medical centre manager. This network services across all of those communities and there's telehealth support where the doctor might not be available on site.

[Dr Shannon Nott - Rural Director Medical Services, Western NSW LHD]

It's been a really, rewarding experience working under this current model.

[Dr Jason Maher - 4Ts Rural Generalist (Trundle)

It is a little bit different in management, but in reality when you're sitting down with your patient and exploring their health issues it's just like any other general practice really.

I like it that I do get a little bit of work in within the hospital as well and in the emergency department and I get to have the resources of the hospital which is really helpful for a GP so we get those resources we can admit our patients if we need to it's a very, very good place to work in that regard too.

[Dr Shannon Nott - Rural Director Medical Services, Western NSW LHD]

So what we want to be able to do through this program is not only provide fantastic care for our patients but also a model of care that clinicians and the top clinicians across our country want to work in.

[Dr Mark Grey - 4Ts Rural Generalist (Trundle)]

It harks back to the Golden Age of medicine in a lot of ways where you're looking after people from the cradle to the grave and you're feeling a welcome part and an important part of the community by providing those services.

[Dr Ash Labib - 4Ts Rural Generalist (Trangie)]

Then we came and test the country. Once you choose the country, you taste it, you love it and you stay with it, like me, I'm in 22 years. The people, the people here are friendly, warming. The life the life is like it's quiet, it's not rushing like the city so we like it.

[Dr Jason Maher - 4Ts Rural Generalist (Trundle)

On a daily basis I don't have strangers coming in to talk with me about their health issues, I have people that matter to me and that is the most gratifying part of my job. But it's living in the community that attracted me to come back from the coast and living in the city to live and work within a small community, it's a lovely place to live and it's a lovely place to bring up children as well, so that was the big draw card for me.

[On-screen text]

Challenge yourself

Make an impact

Shape the future

Join us

 

1:03

Christal Ayton - Nurse Endoscopist

"Never did I think I would be a surgical assistant for a general surgeon or a nurse endoscopist - the first in NSW."

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Christal Ayton - Nurse Endoscopist

I'm a university trained nurse back in 1989,  I've been in Dubbo for nearly 30 years working as a perioperative nurse I've also done ED, Pediatrics and intensive care

Two years ago I was recruited in this position of a transitional nurse endoscopist at Dubbo Health Service and 18 months down the track I've become accredited as a nurse endoscopist in the Western New South Wales Local Health District.

Nursing is just my favourite, I you know people say if you had your time over again would you not be a nurse, no I would always be a nurse because I, I hate floating my own boat but I'm a caring sort of a person I always take the patients on face value, put them at the top of the ladder, never did I think I would be a surgical assistant for a general surgeon or a nurse endoscopist - the first in New South Wales

[Music]

 

4:06

Orange Staff Wellness Dogs

Two paw-fect puppies are making the Orange Health Service ED staff smile. Orange has initiated the staff support and wellness dog program.

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Orange Staff Wellness Dogs

[Dr Greg Button - Director of Emergency Medicine OHS]

We've had the opportunity this year to implement the staff wellness, or support dog program. Alot of things are done in hospitals are for the patients.

So we decided to focus on the staff particularly after COVID and all the stress is caused. 

To be able to bring dogs in for them to be able to have time out with the dogs on their breaks, take them for a walk, play with them, pat them, but also for those that are going through s particularly bad trauma or something like that, sometimes they just need some time out away from the whole clinical side of it and these give them that opportunity just to go sit down and take that time.

Also with things like going into debriefs or meetings where they may be a  bit upset, the dogs certainly then play into that and bring the whole tempo of the room down. The response has been phenomenal, and the staff have just been all over them like a rash.

[Mim Eaton - Oramge ED Nurse Unit Manager]

So we often receive a lot of traffic from our staff, they come into our rooms for meetings  or just for general conversations and to have the  dogs with us, has just been fantastic.

People are just overwhelmed at how lovely it is to have an ear to pat or a head to stroke. Or if we have to have difficult conversations or someone's had a stressful day and they need to come and tell us about some stuff it is wonderful to have the dogs around to help support those conversations. It's been brilliant. 

[Dr Greg Button - Director of Emergency Medicine OHS]

So essentially over the three months we want the staff to interact, we want to see what their experiences are and at the end of that we will run a survey and get them to rate how beneficial they found the program, what they found good about the program, if there is  anybody that found anything bad so we can modify if we need to and then depending on those survey results we will sit down with Executive and look at making it a permanent fixture. 

[Mim Eaton - Oramge ED Nurse Unit Manager]

There's been a lot of information over the last few years particularly with COVID about staff wellbeing and everyone is very aware of that they want to do that. Protecting themselves, having that chill out times and being able to unwind and it's very difficult to do that in this environment so that's why this idea was brilliant because it was enabling us to bring that opportunity here.

So although the staff initially didn't like the idea they had to come to our offices because they're not to be in clinical areas, that has transpired into it get's me out of the department, it gets me into a safe space where I can just completely tune off and before you know it, they've got a smile on their face and they go back out on to the floor and that's the whole idea of it, to give people an opportunity to  give people unwind or debrief about something but in a very safe and supported environment.

[Dr Greg Button - Director of Emergency Medicine OHS]

So Royal Melbourne Hospital ED have had a support staff dog program running since about 2018 and I believe they're up to about five or six dogs. So they have them coming in basically every day of the week for staff to be able to interact with them. So that would be my goal, is to get to what they have and I have already had staff express wanting to enrol their dogs on to  the program after the trial. So I don't think it will be long before we build up the numbers, but we will be able to have a different dog each day. 

[Mim Eaton - Oramge ED Nurse Unit Manager]

I mean the benefit of animals is phenomenal, you know everything from decreasing anxiety and blood pressure and improving their own wellbeing. People are very happy when they see the dogs on duty, because we have their little photos up in the department, so that has been a wonderful thing.  

You know, they've like "Ben is here today, fantastic", you know. Which is great it breaks down those barriers. Because when you sit in a managerial role, although you don't ever try to be someone who is not approachable, sometimes that barrier can build up so having this opportunity with the animals here it really breaks down any of those concerns that people might have that they can't come to us and tell  us their problems or anything that is going on in their world which is really great. They are rockstars of the hospital.

2:36

Meet our rural JMOs - Emergency

Junior Medical Officer Experience in Emergency at Western Local Health District Dubbo facility.

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Meet our rural JMOs - Emergency

[Sirens wail]

You could have someone who literally is moments from dying

[Clock ticking]

and then you could be the person that ultimately saves someone's life. I don't think there's anything better than that.

[Khyarne - Junior Medical Officer]

My name is Khyarne and I'm an Emergency doctor here in Dubbo.

What makes me a good emergency doctor is that I like a fast-paced environment. I seek a challenge. Everyone that hits our front door,  you never know what you're going to get

I grew up in Dubbo and then made the decision to go to Sydney and study at the University of New South Wales. Through that time, I realised that I'm very passionate about rural and remote health, so that's sort of what drove me to to come home and what better place to come than your own hometown and give back to your own community.

Being an Indigenous doctor, I'm very understanding of the social aspects of health we are really setting the scene. We cater to a significant portion of Western New South Wales. We see people from remote communities who might be three and a half hours away from our base and so we already are having to start to coordinate their care.

We have to think outside the square sometimes and it makes the the medicine we do really interesting and rewarding.

Being a trainee here you get the opportunity to be hands-on straight away leading you know resus scenarios. You will be the one performing procedures.  You're obviously supported but you'll be the one actually guiding your patients care. I'm always upskilling, learning, growing as a doctor. 

My supervisors are very supportive, they all appreciate the the demand that our work life puts on us, so they're certainly there to support you and and make sure that you are doing okay.

Dubbo, I think is a fantastic place. We're in a great location but it's also just a beautiful community to live in. One of my favourite things to do is to find a nice little quiet spot down by the river, it's beautiful.

If you're very passionate about emergency medicine, you have a real opportunity to work with an amazing team and make a really big impact on your patients and their families.

[On-screen text]

Make a bigger difference as a Junior Medical Officer in NSW
health.nsw.gov.au/jmo-apply

1:19

Virtual Clinical Pharmacy

Our Virtual Clinical Pharmacy Service gives NSW pharmacists access to patients, doctors and nurses in remote hospitals via telehealth.

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Virtual Clinical Pharmacy

Brett Chambers - Virtual Clinical Pharmacy Service

We've got a problem which happens right around Australia and actually across the world where we've got people spread out  over a very large geographical area and it's not cost effective or feasible to have a pharmacist at each of our health services in our district so  what we've done is we're using virtual Healthcare, so things like video conferencing to take pharmacists to the patients at the bedside and we're able to help patients and doctors and nursing staff to safely use medications at their hospital.

I remember a case where I saw  a patient at one of our small rural hospitals and he'd come in becoming increasingly unwell unable to keep food down and it turns out it was actually caused by one of his medications and, you know, the doctor called me and said I think this is related to medications I'm not really sure.

Through interviewing the patient and going through his story and looking at his laboratory results, it was clear to me that it was caused by a medication and were able to quickly fix that, reduce the dose  right down and and get him out of Hospital

[on-screen text]

Apply now to work in regional NSW

iworkfor.nsw.gov.au

 

4:44

Rural and remote nursing in Western NSW

How is nursing different in our rural sites? Hear how nursing in rural and remote areas can be one of the most rewarding experiences of your career.

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Rural and remote nursing in Western NSW

(Music)


I came here as a new grad and I've stayed on since. I've always  enjoyed working here - one of the other reasons is that I met my husband in my new grad year - and the team environment here and getting the things I get to do is second to none - you can't get to do it anywhere else.

You can Triage our here, you can canulate, venepuncture, IDCs, SPCs you name it - we can do it out here.

I am a ward nurse generally but obviously in a rural facility I am also an accident and emergency nurse, when there's a trauma or there's a need for it. 

I also do community nursing, we also have dialysis here at this facility, I've also done dialysis nursing and obviously we have palliative patients.  We have a lot of post rehab patients, so we do a lot of wound care.

The variety is on the of the things I enjoy the most about working here, also you have aged care, you have emergency and you have your normal everyday ward work, so every day is something different and you get to experience things you wouldn't see in the city as they would be swept away to a specialist unit.

I have so many more skills my friends wish they would have but don't, they don't get the opportunity with all the junior Doctors down there in the city.

My role is virtual outreach support to the nursing staff in the district, education sessions through the video conference we support the staff because they may have a question about a medication or a procedure.   For this month in May we have approximately a hundred virtual sessions offered.

When I started working here, they supported me for triage, like how to work in a rural ED. First of all if anything comes through the ED, how to handle that, I've done a vaccination course, advanced life support, so if something happens we can administer drugs.

We have excellent support from vCare which is the speciality emergency team based in Dubbo, and all the retrieval teams they can connect us with.

Here in Nyngan we are very lucky - we have the support of our managers and usually on call RN overnight.  

Because of the diverse nursing that I do I've always been able to do those extra courses whether it be palliative care, community nursing, dialysis.

We're using this technology and this education to improve, to help our nurses, support our nurses.

I've done lots of emergency courses through the district with training days on site here or just in Dubbo or in other towns and they've help further my skills give me that confidence to be in charge.

We do have more registered nurses starting, here - New Grads - which is also very enjoyable as you get to  help them and  you learn new things off them, things they are learning at uni or they have learned in other facilities, so the team is quite diverse but in a way it is very experienced and very strong.

Working in a small rural facility again, the team is not just the nurses on the ward, its actually the whole facility. I might ring a community nurses today to get an assessment with a patient that's being discharged tomorrow, I might actually speak to the front office staff about something particular about that patient, so actually everyone is involved because it is such a small community and a small facility so my whole team is everyone including the ambulance officers who walk through the door.

They're beautiful out here, I couldn't ask for a better team, they're all lovely, all supportive, you just couldn't find any, any team like it.

In a small rural facility everyone is dependent on eachother , its teamwork - if someone comes in ED everyone comes and helps you, they know what is there role and they support us in those situations, in every situation.

I had some free accommodation over at the units for 12 months and then I brought myself a house here in town - so I'm a permanents stayer.

There s no reason not to even if you don't stay out here forever the skills you'll learn in Western LHD will be transferable back in the city and the things you'll see you'll never see anywhere else.

Challenge Yourself

Make an Impact

Join us!
 

1:21

Kristy Hatswell, Physiotherapy Manager, Dubbo Health Service

Making the move to Dubbo from the city, Kristy has accelerated her career growth.

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Kristy Hatswell, Physiotherapy Manager, Dubbo Health Service

So the emergency senior job came up at the hospital here (Dubbo), so it's a primary  practitioner role which not a lot of hospitals have and particularly not a lot of rural Hospitals, so it was a great opportunity to further my skills in emergency physiotherapy.

So I moved out here for that job and it just so happened that my partner moved to Dubbo as well, so that was a bonus.  I've been so supported in my career pathway, as you can tell I'm quite young and I'm in a management position and obviously worked hard to get there, but i've just had the greatest opportunities here at Dubbo in terms of career progression and I think they'll continue to blossom while I’m here.

The work's fantastic, it's really varied so it's different from your larger hospitals in where you're very specialised and you may only see one condition or a couple of conditions but here we get the beauty of the breadth of all conditions that come out from our North Western areas out towards Lightning Ridge, Bourke or for Warren - all of that comes to Dubbo hospital here, so we get to treat a really varied range of  conditions across the lifespan and work with lots of different  specialists and liaise with the city hospitals as well.

A move to Dubbo can make all the difference

 

[Music]

 

3:25

New Dialysis Unit at Dubbo Hospital

See how Dubbo's new purpose-built Dialysis Unit is making a real difference for patients who regularly use the service.

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New Dialysis Unit at Dubbo Hospital

[Music]

We’re here because we've got a brand-new dialysis unit that opens on the 10th of December.  It's been purpose built for to meet all our needs and our patient's needs and it's been a long time in the planning and it's fantastic.

My name is Trevor McCallister and I have a darling wife Pauline and I have dialysis here three times a week. I've had very good service from their staff here and they have looked after me beautifully for those four odd years.  The facilities here as you are probably aware are pretty tight and pretty inadequate which I suppose would be the word to use.

The challenges are that they come in and they have to usually wait a little while not long but they actually sit on in a chair recliner chair attached to a machine for best part of five to six hours three times a week, every week for the rest of their lives.

We did a lot of consultation with my staff and I was consulted a lot and we all decided we wanted a unit that had lots of windows, that was our number one wish for the patients and that we wanted a central nurse's station so the nurses can see all the patients and they can see us and we can see each other and a dedicated staff area, so and we discussed things like should we have walls between the patients which was sometimes suggested by other agencies and my staff and patients we talked to them and they said no we don't want walls between patients. We have to have some single rooms but we want to open just with curtains and then that's what we've delivered.

So when the government gave us more funding for stages three and four there was the opportunity for us to actually develop and design a new dialysis unit above the current EDSU, which is what we've done.

The new services were getting a purpose-built to standard dialysis unit with lots of natural light, TVs for all the patients, single rooms for those that need it, a home training unit, consult room a dedicated staff area and we also have the up-to-date nurse assist call so we don't currently have that in the old unit, so the nurse is with a patient and needs help they can just hit a button and a certain colour that alarm that light goes on in alarm sounds so another nurse then can look straight up and say oh that nurse needs my help, yes it meets all the guidelines, ticks all the boxes.

Oh I think I'm looking forward to having a brighter facility and they'll have better equipment and that sort of thing to do they work,  so I'm looking forward to seeing all that happen and it'll be nice to be able to look out the window and see what's going on outside.

So it'll be a much better building environment for them I'm sure to lift their spirits because it's so bright and clean and natural and it's just meets all the things that they need to keep their five to six hours that they're here a little bit more beneficial and alive and waiting for this time to come I know it's been a bit of a while and we've not been in the most ideal situation where we are we've still managed to provide the service out and we'll continue to do that, but in a much better environment so I hope you all enjoy it.

[Music]


Diversity and inclusion

As the largest employer in Western NSW, we understand building a workforce that represents the community it serves is vital in delivering inclusive and responsive services.

Our workplace is one of respect, inclusion and belonging. This means treating everyone with courtesy and valuing everyone’s contribution, regardless of their position, role, gender, ethnicity or ability.

We're committed to building an environment that is physically and psychologically safe for women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people with disabilities, culturally and linguistically diverse groups, and all our staff.

Our statement of commitment

NSW Health welcomes people from diverse backgrounds. We are committed to building a workplace that reflects the community we serve.

Attract and keep good people

We support our staff to continue professional development while living a balanced life.

Deliver the best health outcomes

We believe an engaged workforce delivers the best health outcomes for our community.

Promote a respectful culture

We encourage a culture that reflects our core values and respects the differences that everyone brings.

Understanding our community

We aim to have a workforce that understands the unique needs of our communities.

Our commitment in action

Our team is working on a number of diversity and inclusion initiatives that reflect our statement of commitment.

Working group

We have established a Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging working group to collaborate on, champion and achieve diversity, inclusion and belonging outcomes for our District.

Indigenous female in a meeting

Diversity and inclusion strategy

We are developing an organisation wide Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Strategy. Find out more about our strategies and plans that guide our service delivery.

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