In 2017 the federal government announced funding for 26 Regional Training Hubs across Australia. These Hubs are part of a broader Australian Government initiative, the Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training Program, aimed at creating a sustainable future health workforce in remote, rural and regional Australia.
The role of the Hubs is to work with stakeholders to increase the amount of postgraduate medical training that can be undertaken in rural and regional locations across Australia.
There is one Regional Training Hub in Tasmania based at the University. The Hub is a small unit (staff of 2.5 FTE) that is collocated with the Rural Clinical School in the State’s North West and also has a small satellite at the Launceston Clinical School in the State’s North.
The role of the Hub is to:
- Help create new and more integrated rural training opportunities
- Train more rural doctors as clinical supervisors
- Provide support for rural trainees to improve their rural training experiences
- Identify students and doctors with an interest in rural medical practice and assist them with career planning
- Map Tasmanian vocational training pathways and develop strategies to address gaps
As part of a rural workforce program, the overall aim of the Hubs is to try to increase the number of medical specialists working in rural and regional Australia – particularly in disciplines with a workforce shortage.
