Growing the rural health workforce: Are we on track?

Poorer supply and continuity of the healthcare workforce are common experiences of populations in regional, rural and remote communities. Over the last 20+ years there has been a huge growth in our understanding of both the reasons behind this and the effectiveness of various solutions. But are we on track to ‘fixing’ health workforce shortages in rural Queensland?

Join our health workforce experts from UQ and CQU as they reflect on where success has been achieved and where problems persist to date, as well as considering future challenges to growing the rural health workforce.

Experts

Associate Professor Matthew McGrail
Head Regional Training Hubs Research, University of Queensland Rural Clinical School, Rockhampton

Matthew McGrail is appointed as an Associate Professor of Medical Workforce, as the Head of Regional Training Hubs Research with the University of Queensland’s Rural Clinical School. He has worked for over 20 years in rural Australia, including the last 4 years with UQ in Rockhampton. He is an internationally recognised research leader in rural health, most notably in the evaluation of medical workforce supply and distribution, and related health policy. His overall program of research is focused on improving access to health care. He has been a lead investigator on two completed centres of research excellence, one on Rural and Remote (access to) Primary Health Care and one on Medical Workforce Dynamics (which conducted the 11-year Medicine in Australia: Balancing Employment and Life [MABEL] annual survey). Within UQ, he chairs all research relating to medical workforce and program evaluation, including the new Central Queensland and Wide Bay Regional Medical Pathway. Matthew is also appointed as an independent expert advisor to the Commonwealth Department of Health’s Distribution Working Group committee.

Associate Professor Riitta Partanen
Director University of Queensland Rural Clinical School, Hervey Bay and GP in Maryborough

Riitta Partanen is the Director of The University of Queensland Rural Clinical School and is based at the Hervey Bay Regional Clinical Unit. Riitta is also a General Practitioner and has served her community of Maryborough for the past 26 years. Riitta’s research interest areas include rural medical education and rural medical workforce. Riitta is currently completing her PhD on the less understood factors during medical education and training that influence prevocational junior doctors for their workplace locations choices. Riitta is passionate about rural medical education and training and through both her academic leadership and research she is leading change that aims to improve the medical workforce shortage in rural Queensland and ensure equitable access to health care for regional, rural, and remote communities.

Professor Michelle Bellingan
Dean of the School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton

Michelle Bellingan is the Dean of the School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences at Central Queensland University. In this role, she is responsible for providing strategic and academic leadership to CQU’s largest School, including the following health degrees - Physiotherapy, Speech Pathology, Occupational Therapy, Oral Health, Podiatry, Sport and Exercise Science, Paramedicine, Medical Laboratory Science, Medical Radiation Sciences and Psychology, plus the new Bachelor of Medical Science (Pathway to Medicine) as part of the Regional Medical Pathway. Michelle advocates for health workforce growth in regional and remote Australia. She is also passionate about inter-disciplinary health care teams working together to optimise health outcomes. Michelle’s interest in improving health outcomes began as a pharmacist conducting drug utilisation reviews in a regional hospital. She has now been involved in health education for 28 years (at CQ University, James Cook University and Nelson Mandela University in South Africa). She strives to widen participation in higher education from regional and remote, and Indigenous students to grow the health workforce to meet evolving community needs.