A new federal government campaign of “Attracting more people to work in Indigenous Health” was launched on Sunday 24 July 2011.

The campaign is produced through the Department of Health and Ageing and consists of a series television and radio commercials and print advertisements depicting real life stories of five health workers, dubbed ‘health heroes’.

The five occupations depicted are a child health nurse, trainee physiotherapist, dental assistant, medical doctor and paramedic trainee. The commercials point people to the healthheroes website to find out more information about jobs in the healthcare industry, including information on financial support.

NTGPE’s Medical Education Consultant, Dr Hung The Nguyen, who was part of the campaign reference group, said the product was well received.

“I thought the product looked really good, but no doubt we will have to evaluate its effectiveness at some stage in the future,” said Dr Nguyen.

The campaign is available for viewing in the ‘materials’ section of the website: www.australia.gov.au/healthheroes. Organisations with a Facebook presence are asked to add the TV Commercials to their page to help spread the campaign message.

Nurturing a robust and unique General Practice medical workforce for the NT will be one of the goals of Northern Territory General Practice Education’s (NTGPE) newly appointed Director of Medical and Cultural Education, Dr Tamsin Cockayne.

Far from being a stranger to the Territory, Dr Cockayne completed her General Practice (GP) medical training in the NT in 1998 as a medical intern at Royal Darwin Hospital, while a student at the University of Sydney. She continued her GP training in the NT with stints at Nhulunbuy and Bathurst Island until her fellowship with the Royal Australian College of General Practice (RACGP) in 2005. She then practiced in Katherine and Gove and became the Director of Medical Services at Gove District Hospital from 2007 to 2009.

Dr Cockayne left the NT in 2009 and took the opportunity to live, work and study across a range of medical and social environments, including in Sydney, Indonesia and most recently the UK, before she was lured back to the NT lifestyle.

“I have missed the warm climate, the warmth and spirituality of remote Aboriginal communities and the challenging yet incredibly exciting world of general practice education and training in the NT,” said Dr Cockayne.

Dr Cockayne said she is also looking forward to using her skills and experience to improve general practice education and training for the Territory.

“My NT training, together with my overseas experiences and my ongoing studies in public health and health management will help to facilitate training in the NT that I hope will be innovative, exciting and stimulating to all those involved,” she said.

Dr Cockayne is a Fellow in Advanced Rural General Practice with RACGP. She is also an accredited GP trainer and has held various advisory positions in the NT, including with the NT Hospitals Network and the NT Rural Clinical School Advisory Committee (Gove region).

NTGPE Executive Director, Dr Michael Wilson, welcomed Dr Cockayne’s addition to his team.

“Dr Cockayne’s breadth and depth of knowledge and experience is a wonderful addition to the dedicated team of medical and cultural educators within NTGPE,”, he said.

Dr Cockayne replaces Dr Hung The Nguyen as Director of Medical and Cultural Education from 18 July 2011.

NTGPE is the major provider of general practice education and training in the NT for medical students, prevocational doctors and registrars. Its work function of attracting and training Australian medical students and graduates for general practice placements in the NT greatly assists the GP workforce planning initiatives of both the NT and Commonwealth governments. Through innovative, learner focused training and education, NTGPE has become one of Australia’s leading providers of undergraduate and postgraduate medical and cultural education and training in rural and remote general practice, with a focus on Indigenous health.

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New NTGPE Director of Medical and Cultural Education, Dr Tamsin Cockayne

Available for interview:

Dr Tamsin Cockayne, new Director of Medical and Cultural Education, NTGPE

Dr Michael Wilson, Executive Director, NTGPE

Media enquiries: Adelia Mu-Prasad, Marketing & Projects Manager, Ph: 08 8946 6955

Two NT registrars have received recognition for exceptional achievement at the recent 2011.1 RACGP fellowship exam awards.

Dr Nicole Carter was awarded the David Game Prize SA&NT for being the GP candidate in SA/NT Faculty who received the highest pass score in each examination on their first attempt.

Nicole is a 2007 cohort GPR and undertook all her training with NTGPE. She was also one of NTGPE’s first PGPPP participants. Nicole has successfully completed all three components of the exam and is eligible to apply for fellowship.

Dr Claire Toohey received the Outstanding SA/NT Key Feature Problem (KFP) Achievement, achieving the highest KFP score in 2011.1 – Secondary Award.

Claire transferred to NTGPE in August 2010, commencing in her GPT3 term. She has successfully completed all three components of the exam and has applied for fellowship.

NTGPE extends its congratulations to both Nicole and Claire .

Award winners and criteria are listed at www.racgp.org.au/assessment/examination/results.

NTGPE’s 2012 Teaching and Learning Conference for health professionals will be held on Friday 30 March to Saturday 31 March 2012 in Alice Springs, it was announced today.

The annual event is now in its fourth year, and has become a premier health professionals’ education and training event for the Northern Territory.

The conference brings together NT and interstate academics, educators, mentors, supervisors, trainers and key education organisations for unique networking and professional development opportunities.

Further information on the conference will be forthcoming, so stay tuned…