NSW Health has revealed that more than 1,000 interns began working in the NSW Health system last week (20 January), a record number of new starters and the most of any State or Territory in Australia.
Acting Deputy Secretary of the Department, Richard Griffiths said the State appointed 1,041 intern positions this year, an increase of 35 per cent since 2011.
“These junior medical officers join NSW Health at a remarkable time in our history,” Mr Griffiths said.
“They come to us in the middle of an unprecedented, world-wide pandemic and have the unique opportunity to play a vital role in in our extraordinary health system,” he said.
Mr Griffiths said 150 of the NSW Health intern positions belonged to the Rural Preferential Recruitment scheme, in which interns undertook the majority of their training in rural hospitals.
“This has doubled in number since 2012,” he said.
“This innovative scheme was designed to encourage interns to work in rural hospitals once they finished their medical school training.”
He said the new doctors who began their internships last week had entered a training program with networked hospitals throughout the State that provided formal and on the job training.
“They receive two-year contracts to rotate between metropolitan, regional and rural hospitals to ensure the diversity of their experience,” Mr Griffiths said.
“They also join different units in each hospital, including surgery and emergency medicine,” he said.
