Beyond the Range, Central NSW Council’s (Centroc) major regional health workforce recruitment campaign was launched on Wednesday 4 November at Jemalong Regional Education Centre.
Fiona Nash, Federal Minister for Rural Health led the launch of the destination and lifestyle focused health workforce recruitment campaign, which is driven at a community level by Centroc.
Beyond the Range is a destination and lifestyle focused regional health workforce recruitment campaign driven at the community level by local government. It includes a website, a 30 page Council Toolkit, and a Facebook page, and brings together a diverse range of organisations from tourism, arts, universities and government agencies among others.
The Forbes Jemalong Regional Education Centre was an ideal setting for the launch being an excellent example of a regional council and community’s proactive approach to improving health infrastructure and attracting crucial health workforce. “This is about destination marketing and providing a quality service to people thinking about relocating to Central West NSW,” said Centroc Executive Officer Jenny Bennet. “That’s why organisations such as Central NSW Tourism and Arts Out West also feature on the Beyond the Range website – to illustrate just how culturally rich and diverse the region is.”
In 2012, a report from the NSW Rural Doctors Network found that 88% of rural towns among Central NSW Councils were considered vulnerable to the catastrophic loss of GP workforce. According to Centroc, the number of rural
GP proceduralists in regional NSW is declining at an alarming rate, and that all indications are that the rural medical workforce numbers will not improve unless more action is taken. “We can’t afford to keep hiding our heads
in the sand when it comes to regional health workforce,” said Chair of Centroc and Mayor of Cowra Shire, Bill West.