CDU campaigning federal government for 40 funded medical places in the NT

The Northern Territory has a huge ‘workforce deficit’ in the health system and CDU Menzies School of Medicine Dean Dianne Stephens is forging ahead to solve it. See how.

Charles Darwin University is pushing ahead with plans to establish an undergraduate medical program to train local doctors to fill a “huge” shortage in the Territory’s health system.

CDU Menzies School of Medicine was founded on New Year’s Day this year, primarily to put responsibility for the Northern Territory’s doctor supply into the hands of the Northern Territory.

Currently, the Territory is dependent on medicine graduates relocating from interstate to source its supply of doctors.

The school is now waiting for commonwealth backing and banking on a share of 80 new rural medical places announced in the October federal budget.

The federal government committed $99.3m for 80 new rural medical Commonwealth Supported Places in up to eight medical schools, which have so far not been identified.

The budget said the additional CSPs would allow medical schools to offer more students, especially those in regional and rural Australia, the opportunity to take up medical school education and training.

Professor Dianne Stephens, foundation Dean at the CDU Menzies School of Medicine, said the school was working with the commonwealth to secure places.

Dr Dianne Stephens in the nurse training labs that she hopes will be part of a Medical School at Charles Darwin University. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

“We have a huge workforce deficit,” Professor Stephens said.

“Every year we have 64-65 first-year internship places to fill and currently Flinders produces 24 graduates.

“Every year we have to go looking for 40 interstate doctors without factoring in growing need.

“We’re lobbying the commonwealth for 40 funded places.

“We need the commonwealth to commit 40 of the 80 places they’ve made available for other schools and to not give them out in small parcels to other universities.

“We’re the only jurisdiction in the country that doesn’t have its own commonwealth funded medical places. We deserve 40 because we’ve got the greatest need.

“We’ve got the biggest health deficit in the country, the biggest workforce needs and the most challenging health system to staff in the whole country and we need the commonwealth recognition to grow our own.”

CDU’s current 10-year-partnership with Flinders University involves 12 to 15 school leavers from the NT entering CDU’s Bachelor of Clinical Sciences for two years before joining the Flinders four-year Graduate MD program delivered from the NTMP building on the CDU campus.

The CDU course will for the first time provide Territory school leavers the opportunity to undertake a five-year undergraduate program.

Future NT: Major projects driving $40bn economy ambition

CDU vice-chancellor Scott Bowman said the Flinders arrangement was intended as a transition towards a standalone NT school of medicine.

“At the very beginning of the Flinders University arrangement was for 10 years and it was thought within 10 years CDU would develop its own medical program,” Professor Bowman said.

“It will be a program which really looks at what are the needs in the Territory and a lot of the needs in the Territory are being able to practice remotely, we’ve got certain diseases here which are for more prevalent than you find in the city.

“These folks who come and do this course will be very geared up to meet the needs of the Territory.”

Professor Bowman said the Territory should have its own medical program.

“We are the only state or territory that doesn’t have its own medical program. We’ve just had announced in the budget 20 places or so for Cairns and there’s even a medical program in Orange. So, we need it and we will get it. It’s right for Australia,” he said.

The office of Federal Health Minister Mark Butler has been contacted for comment.

Charles Darwin University Vice-Chancellor Scott Bowman. Picture: (A) manda Parkinson

Professor Stephens said a course was being designed by NT clinicians and medical educators with broad health community involvement.

“We looked into what we need a Northern Territory trained doctor to look like and best ways to produce local doctors because we know people who go to university in the area where they live are more than likely to stay there and work. There is a lot of evidence of that,” she said.

“There’s a lot of unmet need in the Territory and students who would like to do medicine don’t have the opportunity to study here.

“We’ll be selecting Territory students and making pathways for first nations and building aspirations as they go through high school and letting children know what to do to prepare for a medical program and do medicine.

“We really want to encourage kids in Katherine, Tennant Creek and Nhulunbuy that they can aspire to get into a medical program which, to be fair, hasn’t been within the reach of many school leavers in the Northern Territory.”