New centre to deliver more health professionals
A new federal government funded training centre in Melbourne’s suburb of Camberwell may mean a major boost to the health workforce and improved patient access to health services.
Federal Minister for Health, Peter Dutton, being shown Epworth’s new centre in Camberwell, Victoria, by director of psychiatry, Dr Graham Wong.
At least 160 students in medicine and other health professions will be trained at the purpose built multidisciplinary professional education centre at Epworth Rehabilitation each year.
Federal Minister for Health, Peter Dutton, officially opened the $43 million redevelopment of Epworth Camberwell.
The redevelopment includes new mental health and education facilities and provides 153 beds for rehabilitation, sleep studies and mental health patients.
The federal government provided $1.32 million to Epworth HealthCare for inclusion of the training centre.
The funding is part of the federal government’s commitment to rebuild general practice in Australia, delivering more health professionals, at lower cost, through better training programmes.
The Epworth Camberwell centre will provide training to students in medicine, nursing, physiotherapy, psychology, occupational therapy, social work, dietetics and speech pathology.
It includes a lecture theatre, six tutorial/therapy rooms, three training rooms within consulting suites and six consulting rooms.
It is one of 35 projects to receive funding, totalling $90 million.
“An integral part of providing a strong foundation for the health system into the future is to provide new infrastructure funding to build the facilities to train the doctors, nurses, physios and other health professionals of tomorrow,” Minister Dutton says.
“The government is committed to improving capital infrastructure across Australia and supporting clinical teaching and training that is innovative, responsive and flexible,” he adds.
