Bendigo doctors are winners

By Jonathon Howard
Updated November 7 2012 - 3:51am, first published November 2 2010 - 10:36am
ENCOURAGING: Doctors John Edington and Diana Badcock are urging medical workers to come and practice in rural areas.      Picture: BRENDAN McCARTHY
ENCOURAGING: Doctors John Edington and Diana Badcock are urging medical workers to come and practice in rural areas. Picture: BRENDAN McCARTHY

BENDIGO Health doctors’ Diana Badcock and John Edington are calling on medical workers to give rural life a chance, after the pair were awarded Victorian rural doctors’ awards this week.The Dorevitch and Gippsland Pathology Victorian Rural Doctors’ Awards, presented by Rural Workforce Agency Victoria and this year, recognised 24 GPs and specialists from rural centres across the state.Dr Badcock, who originates from the United Kingdom, has been working as Bendigo Health’s deputy director of emergency medicine for the past 10 years.She is also director of emergency medical training and works with the Australasian college of emergency medicine to expand and encourage specialist emergency physicians to work in rural centres.Dr Edington, who originates from South Africa, was the only intensive care specialist in Bendigo when he arrived in 1998 and ran the unit on his own until 2005.He has been a key driver in expanding Bendigo Health’s intensive care unit to the extent that it now rates as the third busiest regional ICU, and is recognised as one of the safest in Australia. Dr Badcock said Australians were too “metro-centric”, and were failing to realise the benefits of working in a rural areas.“Lifestyle and the challenges of rural work can be so rewarding and I would encourage other medical practitioners to give rural life a go and experience some of the benefits,” she said.Dr Edington said the emphasis for medical students needed to shift from focusing on metro hospitals to the advantages of working in a rural hospital.“There are three main areas that influence people’s decisions, they include their education, which is often in a metro, social networks and training, which is also often done in metros,” he said.Both doctors agreed there needed to be a shift by education institutions to offer more on-the-job training in rural hospitals.

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