GP training first for urgent care clinic

THE Bendigo Urgent Care Clinic has become the first facility of its kind in Victoria to offer more training opportunities for general practitioner registrars.

The full-time six-month or 12-month part-time opportunities in extended skill, urgent care training will be available to registrars when the next round of placements starts in August.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has accredited the clinic to provide the training.

Murray Primary Health Network (PHN) chief executive Matt Jones described the move as a significant step forward in general practice training, allowing young people committed to regional general practice to expand their skills.

“General practice offers young doctors the opportunity to have a career that serves their interests and their communities while meeting their own needs at different life stages,” Mr Jones said.

“Urgent care clinics give GPs and trainees the opportunity to expand their skill sets beyond everyday patient care, to experience urgent and emergency patient care situations.

“This is invaluable for doctors intending to practice outside our major cities.”

The clinic is part of the Bendigo Primary Care Centre in Arnold Street. More than 30 GPs from various practices spend time there.

Its general manager, Callum Wright, said the RACGP had also permitted some of the existing registrars in the attached primary health care clinic to spend up to 20 per cent of their time in the urgent care clinic, with their usual GP supervisor.

“At Bendigo Primary Care Centre, we’ve always believed the urgent care clinic should be more than just another provider – it should help strengthen the whole local healthcare system,” he said.

Mr Wright said the primary care centre also shares its training and development initiatives with doctors, nurses and administration staff at many local healthcare services.

“Aligning the clinic with our larger training hub for GPs is a natural and exciting next step in that mission,” he said. “It means we’re not just providing urgent care – we’re also helping to build the future workforce for our region.”

Dr Katie Colvin, a registrar at the primary care centre, said that working in urgent care improved her education and experience as a GP in training.

“It provides opportunities to rapidly manage acute illness and injury, supported with nursing staff and local radiographers, and provide timely non-emergency care to our local community,” Dr Colvin said.

“I’d really recommend working in urgent care to other GP registrars as a satisfying area of clinical care as well as an important aspect of becoming a well-rounded GP.”