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Regional Medical Specialists Association

News Flash

SRSA applications now open

Funding Round 8 Support for Rural Specialists in Australia (SRSA) has just opened a new funding round! You can read the new guidelines and apply through our online portal below:

SRSA helps rural specialists feel confident, supported, and engaged so they can provide the best care to their communities. We provide grants of up to $12,000 for individuals to attend CPD activities, covering costs like registration, accommodation, travel, and meals.

Key dates: - Applications open: 28 Feb 2024 - Application deadline: 15 Apr 2024 - Outcomes sent by: 15 May 2024 - CPD activity completion: 1 Jul 2024 - 31 Dec 2024
Eligibility Applicants must work rurally (Modified Monash Model categories 2-7) as either: - A (non-GP) specialist - An Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander specialist trainee - A specialist international medical graduate under assessment

FAQs
1. Can I complete my CPD activity overseas?
All activities must be completed within Australia or New Zealand. Online-only activities are also eligible.
2. What is the maximum amount I can apply for? Grants are available up to $12,000 per person, per funding round.
3. Can I apply for multiple activities? No. Grant funds cannot be split between multiple activities unless they are directly related (e.g., a workshop held in conjunction with a conference). Applications for multiple activities will not be considered.
4. How can I increase my chances in securing a grant? We prioritise more hands-on and interactive activities like clinical attachments, mentorships, and peer review.
5. When do I receive the grant funds? Successful applicants will be contacted in mid-May with a letter of offer. Funds will be transferred within six weeks of grant acceptance.
For more information head to the SRSA website or contact [email protected].

Help us spread the word Most applicants hear about SRSA from colleagues. Please considering forwarding this email through your networks so we can reach as many rural specialists as possible.

SRSA
Congratulations to all who were recognized in the Australia Day 2024 Honors List, particularly those in the Riverina and Central West including:

Order of Australia - General Division Recipients

Dr. Nicholas Stephenson AM - Wagga Wagga - For significant service to medicine and to medical imaging training.
Dr Nick Stephenson was one of the RMSA’s founding Directors.

Workforce: attracting more ophthalmologists to the regions

The current edition of Insight, the industry publication for eye specialists, emphasises the urban/rural divide in this specialty and reports how the Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists is responding to this issue.
The geographic maldistribution of ophthalmologists in Australia is a long-standing issue contributing to eyecare inequity for residents with a regional postcode. Insight talks to regionally-based ophthalmologists and investigates what is being done to fix the issue.
The imbalance of urban versus regional/rural eye doctors was laid bare in a 2018 Department of Health ophthalmology workforce report confirming 84% work in big cities (category 1 in the Medical Monash Model [MMM] – a spectrum that extends to MMM7 to determine if a location is city, rural, remote or very remote). That means some 16% of ophthalmologists work in regional areas, which is insufficient for the 29% of the Australian population that lives regionally.
In this 2018 report, based on 2015 data, ophthalmology was considered a priority area by the expert National Medical Training Advisory Network (now known as the Medical Workforce Reform Advisory Committee). The report identifies a maldistribution of ophthalmologists with most working in urban locations, a higher-than-average reliance on international medical graduates, an impending critical shortage of paediatric ophthalmologists and a lack of funded training positions in the public sector.
The RANZCO’ own analysis has also shown that of the ophthalmologists who trained and graduated between 2013 and 2016, 90% reside in urban areas. This aligns with the 2018 report that found 85% of trainees are located in major cities (MMM1), with 9% in MMM2, 3% in MMM3 and 1% each in MMM6 and MMM7.
The report recommended an increased intake of trainees to counter the predicted undersupply of ophthalmologists in 2030 of three per year from 2019 – compounding.
But it had a particular focus on regionally-focused initiatives for RANZCO.
This included several steps including formalised training of additional supervisors, particularly in regional, rural and remote settings, as well as potential mechanisms to address maldistribution such as preferential selection of trainees with a rural background, or who have undertaken rural placements as a medical student, or worked as a junior doctor in a rural area. It was also recommended trainees undertake at least six months training in a regional, rural or remote area and/or experience working within an Indigenous health service and that final fellowship assessment demonstrates fellows can practise the full scope of ophthalmology across Australia

Read more here.

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