N.S.W Rural-Based Psychiatry Training

The need for rural communities to have psychiatrist living and working within them has prompted the Rural Psychiatry Project to look at strategies that will increase the number of rural-based psychiatrists in NSW. One of these strategies has been the establishment of the NSW Rural Training Scheme. Medical Practitioners, who have an interest in taking up psychiatry training outside major centres, are now able to carry out the majority of their psychiatry training in a number of rural areas within NSW.

Currently there are rural-based trainee positions in Tweedheads, Coffs Harbour, Kempsey, Port Macquarie, Wagga Wagga, Tamworth, Orange, Lismore and Broken Hill; with Taree and Dubbo being reviewed for accreditation and a Child and Adolescent term is available in Orange and Lismore. Further, Orange, Lismore and Goulburn are all accredited and regularly used for rural rotations from Sydney training programmes.

Trainees can complete 2 out of their 3 years of Basic Training in their home base, and help is given for them to arrange the further year in a bigger centre. With the advent of Advanced Training schemes it is hoped that trainees will be able to also do some or all of their Advanced Training in a rural area.

With their local knowledge and local community connections, these trainees are in a strong position to offer improved Mental Health Care in the country.

Additional online information about becoming a Trainee can be found here.

For further information, contact:

Ms Michelle Briggs , Project Officer
RANZCP, NSW Branch Rural Psychiatry Project
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists
P O Box 280, Rozelle, NSW 2039
Telephone: + 61 2 9352 3600
Fax: + 61 2 9810 5073
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