The South Eastern Regional Training Hubs Collaboration

The Regional Medical Training Website is an initiative of the Southern Regional Training Hub Alliance and was extended via collaboration with the NSW Regional Training Hub Network.  This collaboration represents 17 of the 26 Hubs funded by the Australian Government to support medical training and careers across the regional communities of Victoria, Tasmania, NSW and South Australia’s Riverland and Limestone Coast.

Regional Training Hubs work to address local medical specialist shortages by building and strengthening rural training opportunities for medical students, junior doctors and vocational trainees.  Hubs also acknowledge and support the crucial role that our existing medical workforce has in supervising and mentoring the next generation of regional clinicians.

Key roles performed by Regional Training Hubs include

• identifying and supporting medical students and junior doctors with an interest in rural practice (including bonded medical students)
• strengthening regional training capacity by upskilling supervisors
• assisting health services with accreditation and funding submissions for training posts
• exploring opportunities for expansion of specialist training in the regions by working with the Colleges and Federal and State Governments.

The Southern Regional Training Hub Alliance

Established in 2018 by Monash University, The University of Melbourne and Deakin University, The Southern Regional Training Hub Alliance (SRTHA) developed a collaborative vision for Victoria’s regional medical workforce needs.

As early benefits of this collaborative approach grew, the Alliance expanded to include UNSW, the University of Tasmania and Flinders University, with a view to providing a single coordinated focus for medical students and junior doctors keen to explore pathways in Australia’s rural and regional south. We meet three times a year as the Alliance and twice a year with the 26 Regional Training Hubs across Australia.

The Southern Regional Training Hub Alliance footprint covers regional Victoria, South-Eastern South Australia, the Border Region of NSW, and Tasmania:

• Deakin University’s Western Victoria Regional Training Hub covers the area between Geelong, Ballarat, Warrnambool & the Victorian/South Australian border
• Monash University’s North West Victorian Regional Training Hub covers the Loddon Mallee Region, from Gisborne to Swan Hill, Bendigo to Mildura
• The University of Melbourne hosts the Goulburn Valley Regional Training Hub, which has a footprint in Wangaratta, Shepparton and Echuca
• University of NSW hosts the Border Regional Training Hub for the Albury Wodonga Region
• Monash University’s Gippsland Regional Training Hub works across all of Gippsland
• University of Tasmania’s Tasmanian Rural and Regional Training Hub reaches across all of Tasmania
• Flinders University’s Limestone Coast Regional Training Hub footprint covers the Limestone Coast and Riverland Regions of South Australia

The NSW Regional Training Hub Network

The NSW Regional Training Hub Network covers the breadth of regional New South Wales. The Network was established in 2019, meeting quarterly to function as a forum that enables state-wide collaboration to facilitate rural medical education and training. In 2021 the Network joined with the Alliance to expand the scope of the Regional Medical Training website to include NSW information available  to doctors in training seeking to maximise their rural training opportunities .

The footprint of the NSW Regional Training Hub Network includes:

• UNSW hosts the Border Regional Training Hub for the Albury/Wodonga Region, the Murrumbidgee Regional Training Hub for the Wagga Wagga Region, and the Mid North Coast Regional Training Hub for the Coffs Harbour Region.
• The University of Notre Dame’s Riverina Regional Training Hub supports the Communities in and around Wagga Wagga and Griffith in the south west of the state
• The ANU’s South East NSW Regional Training Hub is based in Goulburn, reaching throughout south-east NSW
• The University of Sydney hosts the Far Western NSW Regional Training Hub, based in Broken Hill, the Western NSW Regional Training Hub based in Dubbo/Orange, and the Northern NSW Regional Training Hub based in Lismore.
• The University of Newcastle’s North West NSW Regional Training Hub covers the Hunter/New England region
• The Clarence Valley Regional Training Hub supports the Grafton region while the Shoalhaven Regional Training Hub is based in Nowra, hosted by the University of Wollongong