THE recent appointment of a surgical registrar and two resident doctors has provided an enormous morale boost for staff at the Bega District Hospital.
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During the past three months surgical registrar Grant Stewart has arrived from Edinburgh, Scotland, to fill the post and resident doctors Luke Baitch and Peter Mews, both post graduate Year 2 students, have been seconded to Bega District Hospital from the Canberra Hospital.
The director of the Clinical Training Committee, Bega doctor Andrew McKinnon, said that acquiring a surgical registrar and two resident doctors was a tremendous morale boost for Bega District Hospital staff, particularly for the nursing staff.
"Five years ago we had two full-time surgeons, a gynaecologist and a very part-time orthopaedic surgeon," Dr Mackinnon said.
"We now have five full-time young surgeons and the complexity and level of procedures we undertake at Bega are second to none in the Area Health Service."
Dr Mackinnon said that over the past three years nurses had absorbed the massive increase in complexity of their work and had had to act as junior doctors because it was the only way that the hospital could manage.
"It was a significant factor on the amount of stress leave and sick leave that was taken," he said.
"Now the nurses can concentrate on nursing - they have been liberated by the arrival of the residents from Canberra back into nursing, and that can only be a good thing for the patients.
"It is terrific for the nurses - Bega Hospital is now an attractive place for nurses to work, and that will benefit the community."
His comments are supported by nurse unit manager, Mr Alan Birchall.
"The appointment of a registrar and the residents has been a real boon," he said.
"Nurses no longer have to spend time phoning around trying to locate a patient's doctor as they now have access to a resident.
"This means patients can be screened and assessed immediately, which in turn allows quicker implementation of appropriate treatment and care.
"Both residents have settled into the system and are very approachable.
"They are a great support resource as nurses can ask questions when they need to," he said.
"Their presence has also freed up nurses to perform their ward duties as they have taken over many of the medical procedures that, until their arrival, had to be done by the nurses.
"Their placement here is a recognition of the extensive type of patient treatment now carried out here which means many patients, who would previously have been sent to other hospitals, are now able to be treated here," he said.
Both residents have finished their university degrees and one year's internship and are now in their second year of hospital medicine.
Also undergoing training at the hospital is third year medical student, Alison Moffatt.
Alison, formerly from Merimbula, is also on secondment from the Canberra Hospital where she is undergoing training as part of her Sydney University medical degree course.
Prior to her coming to Bega, Alison has spent time in neurology and when she returns to Canberra she will undertake training in critical care working in the hospital's emergency and intensive care units.
Alison said that at this stage of her training she had not made any firm decisions regarding her future, but as a country girl she certainly would be considering rural general practice.
