Staff and patients in NSW public hospitals will benefit from a major workforce boost with almost 1,100 medical graduate interns starting work this week.
Close to 400 of the positions are in rural and regional areas.
Nationals Minister for Regional Health Bronnie Taylor has extended a warm welcome to the class of 2023; the biggest ever intake of medical graduate interns in NSW, and more than any other state or territory.
Minister Taylor said the new medical graduates will be welcomed with open arms in our rural and regional hospitals, with almost one third or 396 of the positions in the bush.
"The NSW Nationals in government are committed to strengthening our regional health workforce, and ensuring the people of rural and regional NSW continue to have access to the high-quality healthcare they need and deserve," Mrs Taylor said.
"Interns seeking to complete their internship in our regions were able to apply through the Rural Preferential Recruitment pathway and, this year, 176 Rural Preferential intern positions were available - an increase of 13 positions from 2022."
Interns are medical graduates who have completed their medical degree and are required to complete a supervised year of practice in order to become independent practitioners.
The new doctors starting their internship will be entering a training program with networked hospitals throughout the state, providing 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. They also rotate across different specialties during the intern year, including surgery, medicine and emergency medicine.
The NSW Nationals in government are investing a record $33 billion in health as part of the 2022-23 NSW Budget. The Nationals in government have also announced the largest workforce boost in the nation's history with a $4.5 billion investment over four years for 10,148 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff to hospitals and health services across NSW.
