The influx of dozens of new medical graduate interns in the Illawarra-Shoalhaven region boosts resources ahead of the new Shellharbour Hospital. (Artist’s impression). Image: Health Infrastructure.
Patients across the Illawarra and Shoalhaven are already seeing more faces on the wards, with 63 new medical graduate interns beginning work in local public hospitals, adding much-needed support to a stretched health workforce.
Fresh from university and having completed orientation, the junior doctors have stepped straight into patient care roles, working under supervision while completing the final year of training required for general medical registration.
The influx is expected to ease pressure on existing staff while helping maintain access to care across the region.
Interns will rotate through key hospital specialties, including surgery, medicine and emergency medicine, while also moving between metropolitan, regional and rural hospitals as part of two-year contracts designed to broaden their experience.
Alongside hands-on clinical work, they will undertake formal training through a statewide networked hospital program, learning from senior clinicians across NSW Health.
The recruitment comes as the NSW Government outlines broader efforts to strengthen the health workforce.
This includes scrapping the wages cap, delivering what it describes as the largest wage increase for healthcare workers in a decade, introducing emergency department ratios, retaining more than 1100 nursing positions previously earmarked for cuts, and offering study subsidies to support future health professionals.
Minister for Health Ryan Park said the recruits were already playing a vital role in patient care.
“We are proud to have them on our team,” he said.
“From doctors to nurses, paramedics and allied health professionals, we are rebuilding an engaged, capable and supported workforce.”
Member for Wollongong Paul Scully said the new doctors would strengthen local services and help meet growing healthcare demand across the region.
“This is another great boost to our local health workforce, which will make sure people can access quality healthcare when they need it,” he said.
“These junior doctors will bolster the already great staff of nurses, paramedics, doctors, midwives and allied health professionals who serve our community every day.”
