Prudence Buist, COORDINARE’s CEO said, “We are committed to actively supporting health professionals like GPs and nurses to make the move out of the city and this new webpage is just one of our initiatives to attract health workers to our region and to assist practices and providers to advertise job opportunities. 

“With one of NSWs largest rural and regional populations, our Primary Health Network understands the challenge for many communities to access an appropriate and sustainable primary health care workforce, and that is why all general practices and commissioned services within our region will have the ability to advertise their vacancies on this site free of charge,” she said. 

All Practices, regardless of location within our catchment, can advertise their vacancies free of charge. Practices in MMM2-7 locations, or ACCHS in MMM1-7 locations, can also access free end-to-end recruitment support from the Rural Doctors Network.   

To list your role, regardless of location, follow the link 'Advertise a job in South Eastern NSW'. 

You can log into the RDN Service portal with:   

• your existing RDN Service Portal log-in details or  
• your Rural Health Pro log-in details or    
• create a new account at https://nswrdn.my.site.com/sp/s/login/SelfRegister  

Ms Buist added, “We anticipate the heartwarming local GP stories plus easy access to job, grant and scholarship opportunities via our webpage on RDN’s Rural Health Pro website will also be helpful.  

“We are especially grateful to Drs Lisa Opie, Kundai Sithole and John Rosario from Thrive GP in Crookwell and Drs Payam Faraid and Fatima Adeel Siddiqi from Terry Street Medical Practice in Albion Park for sharing their stories with our film crew. All five videos can be viewed via the new RDN webpage. 

“The webpage also features information about GP short term paid placement scholarships, general practice workforce incentives, as well as our GP orientation guide. Some towns in our region are pilot locations for the Department of Regional NSW’s The Welcome Experience so we include a link to that as well,” she said. 

Dr Fatima Adeel Siddiqi urges health workers, “Don't be afraid, come and have a look, this is absolutely one of the best regions to live and work, it is like living in a holiday destination with amazing beaches plus you spend less time in a car as everything is so close. There are great schools and a good university, there are so many options and there is so much support from community here.” 

Drs Payam Faraid adds, “My work as a GP is more interesting out of Sydney as people don’t have such easy access to specialists and are grateful for our care. General practice medicine offers more independence and flexibility as you can choose the hours and days that you work.” 

Crookwell based GP Lisa Opie highly recommends doing locum work in a country location, “It is a great way to trial living somewhere, especially when you have family to consider.” 

Dr Opie said, “There are many clinical opportunities in a country setting. As well as overseeing the general practice, I’m a Visiting Medical Officer at Crookwell Hospital and regularly visit two local nursing homes. No two days are ever the same, the connection and rapport you develop with your patients is also significant.” 

As an international medical graduate, Dr Kundai Sithole was required to work in a regional setting but she and her family have grown to love the Crookwell area.  

Dr Sithole says, “My children are very settled at school, and we really enjoy the running and cycling opportunities here. This setting enables a healthy lifestyle without the stress and distractions you often experience in the city. Housing and locally grown food are affordable and there are no traffic issues.”