In August, the Annual GPCME South Conference was held at Christchurch’s Horncastle Arena. Triple0 were lucky enough to be in attendance, getting to see many great presentations, be part of insightful discussions and meet many outstanding medical professionals at our exhibition stand. If you missed the event, below is a round-up of the key points we took away from the conference.
The Presentations
The presentations focused on short, sharp and to the point clinical updates designed to help change behaviour immediately. One of the highlights was the health panel debate, which included Labour Party Health Spokesperson, David Clark, and Health Minister, Jonathan Coleman, as they both answered questions from the floor.
It quickly became one of the most hard-hitting medico-political sessions in recent years. NZMA President and Christchurch GP Pippa Mackay told delegates, an overhaul of General Practice funding was needed and, likewise, an overhaul of senior leadership at the Ministry of Health. You can watch the full debate here.
We were really impressed with the overall engagement and interaction amongst medical professionals with the various vendors. Throughout the conference, GP Recruitment Consultant, Eliot Trevaskis; Project Manager, Liz Hill; and General Manager, Paul Rosengrave were all present at the Triple0 stand. We asked each for their key takeaways.
Paul Rosengrave highlighted GP shortages, with stats emerging that about 40 per cent of current GPs (1,850 doctors) are expected to retire by 2025.
“The industry shortage facing GP’s in general across New Zealand & Australia and what the Government was planning on doing about it was a key point. This shortage makes our role even more important, in how we are able to get GP’s from different markets and locations to alleviate the problem, particularly in rural spaces”. – Paul Rosengrave, General Manager
Triple0’s General Practice Recruitment Consultant, Eliot Trevaskis, wasn’t surprised by the prominence of this topic and was encouraged by the volume of medical students interested in pursuing General Practice as a career.
“There was a great number of students motivated to move into the General Practice, where there is the incentive of wiping student loans if they move into rural areas to do general practice”. – Eliot Trevaskis, General Practice Recruitment Consultant
While research shows the chances that a doctor will choose a rural career increases if they come from a rural background. Adding further incentives to work rural, like offering more in-depth training to expand skill sets, will hopefully more evenly distribute GP’s across Australia and New Zealand. Triple0 Project Manager Liz Hill thinks these incentives are really exciting for ambitious GP’s.
“I think the rural sector is really exciting and new because of what they are doing with the Royal Hospital Medical Specialists training that they implemented in 2008. This is where GP’s are able to sub specialise and therefore expand their skillset.” – Liz Hill, Project Manager
Closing Thoughts
Here at Triple0, we are proud and lucky to work with and for amazing medical professionals every day, and events like this are great opportunities to really get a feel for how doctors are feeling about the current medical climate of the medical sector. We enjoyed every second of attending GPCME South 2017!
If you’re interested in discussing potential locum or permanent GP roles, get in touch with our GP Recruitment Consultant, Eliot Trevaskis today. You can also register with Triple0 or click here to search our latest jobs.
