It's hard to believe that I am in the final month of my tenure as Rural Doctors Association of Queensland president. From the beginning, I understood the role would be a challenge and it has certainly lived up to expectations.
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There have been rewards and achievements that will remain a source of pride for me throughout my career.
Similar to the work we do every day as rural doctors, the task of advocating for the health of our rural and remote Queensland communities brings both hardship and joy.
In this past month alone, we have seen the sad announcement that the Clermont Country Practice will soon close. The pressures of workforce, workload and business sustainability have become all too much. It is a huge loss to the community, a scary prospect for patients and sad for the practice principal who has invested her care and passion into the practice and the community.
Then, we have had the joyous news of the first planned birth at Weipa hospital which happened just last week. The baby was delivered smoothly by midwives, with the on-call General Practitioner Obstetrician not required to attend.
It has taken 25 years and a committed, long-term advocacy campaign for investment into maternity services and a collaborative model of care in Weipa to see this become a reality. It proves that when you attract and retain skilled GPOs to live and work rurally, rural women can be supported to birth as close to home and on country as possible.
This may seem like we're taking one step forward and one step back, but I believe RDAQ's efforts, supported by our members and our communities, have helped us make bounds forward overall.
While it's disappointing we have not been able to achieve the gains we'd hoped for in the Medical Practitioner with Private Practice space, some progress has been made and RDAQ will continue to drive advocacy.
Our association has a 35-year-long history of staunch advocacy and in 2023 - 2024 we have experienced real breakthroughs.
We are now on the first-to-call list for the Health Minister and her team for feedback and advice on policy or issues relating to rural health - a massive mark of respect and credibility. We are being heard.
As I reflect on my presidency and career to date, I am reassured that rural medicine has many more ups than downs - that's why we do it.
- Dr Alex Dunn, RDAQ president
