A trainee doctor will soon join the team at the West Armidale Clinic, as it transitions away from telehealth.
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The registrar, who will bolster the regional city's access to GPs, is expected to start working in Armidale on August 7, although exact details will not be revealed until after he arrives.
For the time being, former West Armidale Clinic owner Dr Maree Puxty could only say he was a junior doctor trained at Notre Dame University and his wife was also a registrar.
"His wife is also a GP trainee, and she's also coming to Armidale and she'll be working as a GP registrar at another practice," Dr Puxty said.
![Dr Maree Puxty and her husband Dr Terry Bohlsen will remotely supervise the new registrar who is expected to start at the West Armidale Clinic (main picture) on August 7. Pictures supplied Dr Maree Puxty and her husband Dr Terry Bohlsen will remotely supervise the new registrar who is expected to start at the West Armidale Clinic (main picture) on August 7. Pictures supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/184392265/8ef7e8bd-2575-4db9-bfa6-abb097883811.png/r0_0_3520_1890_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The West Armidale Clinic switched to nurse-assisted telehealth following the retirement of owners Dr Maree Puxty and her husband Dr Terry Bohlsen, who relocated to coastal NSW in February.
The couple are back to remotely supervise the new registrar, with assistance from Armidale-based Dr Russell King, under the new program that was first piloted in Walgett and Norfolk Island last year.
Under the program, the three accredited GPs will be on-call daily to supervise, educate and train the registrar as he attends to patients in-house, with Dr Puxty and Dr Bohlsen making regular monthly visits.
Dr Puxty said telehealth was only meant to be a temporary option after the new owners, RARMS [now called the Healthier Communities Foundation Australia], were unable to attract new GPs.
"We were very distraught...upset that it had to pivot to telehealth," Dr Puxty, the owner of the clinic for about 17 years, said.
"We stayed for another 12 months to try and help them [RARMS] find other people, but we had to leave for various reasons.
"It's always been our aim to have doctors operating face-to-face at West Armidale Clinic, so this is a move in the right direction."
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The new doctor's arrival is a step up following the unexpected loss of about 13 doctors and registrars in the regional city earlier this year, prompting an outcry which left thousands of patients without a GP.
It also follows the arrival of registrar Dr Sarah Karimi-Ashfar, who started working at the Faulkner Street Medical Practice in May, and the recent arrival of the new University of New England Vice Chancellor and CEO, Professor Chris Moran, whose wife is also a GP. Details of where she will work have not been revealed.
Dr Puxty said she heard about the remote supervision model at the GP22 conference in Melbourne last year, saying they then approached the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) before they could get approval.
"[It's only been trialled in] places substantially more remote than Armidale, but we thought to ourselves, 'gosh, maybe this could be something that we could get involved with and to try and resuscitate' the practice," Dr Puxty said.
It takes two to three years and fellowship postgraduate exams before a registrar can be handed their provider number to work as a GP.
The clinic will continue to accept new patients as it operates as a hybrid telehealth and in-house clinic, with the arrival of the new registrar and casual visits from Dr Puxty and her husband.
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