Primary Health Care Medical Services, Central Australia Health Service

CAHS Primary Health Care is based in Alice Springs and provides holistic care to residents of an area covering about half a million square kilometres in Central Australia. The service operates in a wide range of settings, including 25 Aboriginal communities, outstations, pastoral properties and the Alice Springs Correctional Centre. The area is renowned for its iconic landscape of deep red earth and rocky mountain ranges, which is ideal for activities such as bushwalking and photography. There is a rich heritage of Aboriginal language, music and the arts.

As a GP Registrar you will be based in Alice Springs, which offers a unique and eclectic blend of culture. The mainstay of the placement is weekly visits to remote Aboriginal communities. This typically involves travelling by RFDS nine-seater plane or 4WD vehicle, leaving Alice Springs on Monday morning and returning by Friday lunchtime. Working in communities is an outstanding cross-cultural experience. It also provides excellent experience in key areas of General Practice, notably chronic disease management and acute care. As a member of the multidisciplinary team you will to work alongside Remote Area Nurses, Aboriginal Health Practitioners and visiting staff (Specialist and Allied Health). Out-of-hours on call is covered by resident staff, so the working day for GP Registrars is limited from 8 am to 5 pm with a one hour lunch break. The communities vary greatly in size (50 to 1,000 residents) and there is an option to spend a one (1) month term based in one of the larger communities.

The diverse range of settings allows for a very varied placement. There are opportunities to work with the mobile health team visiting remote cattle stations in the Barkly region and to gain experience of Prison Health in Alice Springs. There is also an option to participate in Retrieval Medicine, as the service is responsible for telephone triage and logistics between remote health centres, RFDS and Alice Springs Hospital. As part of the NT Department of Health we enjoy excellent working relations with other services based in Alice Springs, such as the Centre for Disease Control. Due to these wider links, there is also an option to pursue an interest in Public Health. The service is fully computerized with all health centres using a single database across a wide area network. Most of the health centres also have a telehealth facility.

There are two (2) accredited GP Supervisors working full time with the service. There is a meeting of the full medical team of 8-10 GPs every Friday afternoon. GP Registrars are normally accompanied by a GP on all visits to remote communities. There is a full orientation programme at the start of the placement, and 4WD training is also offered. Every effort is made to match individual interests to the wide range of learning opportunities.