A recent focus on medical wellbeing at Bundaberg Hospital has identified key workplace challenges for medical officers, prompting a raft of changes to improve wellbeing and attract doctors to the rapidly growing Wide Bay region.
Debbie Carroll, Chief Executive Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service said the organisation was undertaking an enormous amount of infrastructure expansion across facilities to meet the needs of the growing Wide Bay population.
“Alongside that growth we need skilled staff to deliver care,” she said.
“We’re taking a long-term approach to our workforce, and encouraging doctors in training to join us in calling Wide Bay home.
In order to attract new doctors to the region, and to support local talent to stay in their hometown, Ms Carroll said a focus on making the health service a great place to work was vital.
“We asked our doctors what issues were important to their wellbeing, and we’ve responded by making some major changes to the way we work,” she said.
“We’ve streamlined and identified strategies to reduce the administrative burden that takes up a lot of their time, in order to get them out on the wards, and providing face to face patient care; we’ve improved the healthy food options available, especially for staff working the night shift; and we’re offering doctors more professional support and opportunities to build their careers right here in Wide Bay.
“We also know that medicine can be a highly demanding profession.
“So we’re supporting more social opportunities for staff to come together and focus on priorities outside of the workplace.”
Ms Carroll said workforce development and career progression initiatives such as the Regional Medical Pathway and the Workplace Based Assessment program continue to lead the state, training doctors in the region every year.
“This commitment to supporting work life balance is crucial to our overall workplace wellbeing, and we’re confident that it will improve the satisfaction of our staff, and the level of care provided to our patients,” she said.
