Country SA PHN is pleased to announce the Rural Doctors Workforce Agency (RDWA) as the sole provider of Country SA PHN’s education services to country South Australian primary health care providers until June 2023.
RDWA and Country SA PHN value the importance of workforce education as a key support activity for upskilling, knowledge sharing and providing professional development within the primary health care sector. It is an important area of service provision delivered as part of Country SA PHN’s wider health system improvement initiatives.
Providing professional education services increases the capacity of primary health care providers to bestow quality health services to members of their communities. As such, the intended outcomes are:
“Country SA PHN is looking forward to partnering with RDWA to ensure the delivery of evidence based, culturally appropriate and high-quality education services to primary health care workers,” said Country SA PHN Chief Executive Officer, Kim Hosking.
“We are glad we can support the RDWA to utilise Country SA PHN’s rich tapestry of Local Health Clusters across country South Australia to establish local linkages and enable ongoing feedback about emerging themes and local community needs that can help shape relevant education topics and learning modalities.”
RDWA will also partner with the Aboriginal Health Council SA and its member Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations in the delivery of programs within Indigenous communities. General Practices and employers in rural primary care practices are also important partners in the delivery of Education Services. Opportunities for local promotion of education sessions and hosting events will be explored with local health services. Other key partnerships include the specialist colleges, professional bodies, and organisations with a condition-specific focus that the RDWA engages with for the support and promotion of learning opportunities.
“RDWA is delighted that this partnership with Country SA PHN will allow us to build on our long-standing program of professional development for South Australia’s rural GPs. High quality medical education is critical to maintaining contemporary practice in patient care for rural communities,” said RDWA Chief Executive Officer, Lyn Poole.
“This program will allow us to increase GPs’ access to educational opportunities through online resources, alongside future opportunities for peer learning and networking through face-to-face events. The program will respond to the changing requirements of the new professional development triennium, and we will be engaging with the workforce on an ongoing basis to ensure that the program meets their developing learning needs, in terms of both program content and the delivery modality.”
In order to deliver bespoke education services for primary health care professionals in country South Australia the RDWA will be undertaking a comprehensive education needs analysis with primary health care professionals. This will be an ongoing process to capture the workforce’s evolving education needs over the duration of the program, starting with engagement with the local health clusters in the coming weeks.
