Going bush

For a self-described “basically city GP”, Broadway doctor Roslyn Doyle has certainly spent a fair share of time practising in regional-sounding places like Deniliquin and Cobar. But for her patients, it’s not surprising at all.

For Dr Doyle is an eager participant in the National Rural Locum Program, a Government-supported initiative designed to allow rural GPs to take a break by giving city-based doctors the opportunity to work in regional areas for weeks at a time.

Manager of the NSW Rural Doctors Network’s Locum Service, Suzanne Riley, said the initiative was designed to, “attract, employ and support locums, and provide a well-regarded service to host Practices.”

“My first contact [with the program] was with the Rural Doctor Network,” Dr Doyle said. “From my end they were offering to put me through an emergency medical course, because I hadn’t done emergency medicine for years and years, on the condition I would go to the country for four weeks of work in the next two years.”

Dr Doyle said the “rich variety” of rural practice kept her coming back, allowing her to provide local doctors in areas like Deniliquin and Gulgong with much-needed breaks. “Rural locum work certainly gives you a different perspective on life compared to working in the inner-city, where we sometimes take medical care for granted,” she said.

Dr Doyle is an enthusiastic supporter of the program, taking a week or two off to work in regional areas about every six weeks, two or three times a year. For a woman in her position, she says, the arrangement is ideal.

“My kids have left home, I’ve been in the same practice for years and years, the thought of going to the country … made a nice change,” she said. “I haven’t got commitments at home or work that I can’t leave. I saw a big ad in the paper offering this course, and I thought, ‘That sounds brilliant’.”

And her city patients? How do they respond to their GP ‘going rural’?

“Very well! They see I’m providing a need there, and they’re enthusiastic about that. I think they feel they’re supporting country people too – they’re very, very supportive about it.”