Dr James, whose husband and fellow doctor Ben James started practising in Deniliquin in June last year, said her induction to the local medical fraternity simply fills a hole left vacant by Dr Shahzad Ahmed’s departure last month.
She said while there is still a lot of work to do to turn around the shortage, she can at least help ease some of the pressures on existing medical practitioners.
All local doctor surgeries had to close their books to new patients early last year as the number of doctors available simply could not met demand.
Most are believed to be in the same situation today, including the Deniliquin Medical Centre which is now down to just four doctors after Dr Ahmed left.
‘‘It (the shortage) is very difficult to solve and really hasn’t had much focus for 20 years, until now,’’ Dr James said.
‘‘It’s going to take multiple levels of change throughout the government, and medical training, for the situation to be improved.
‘‘Seven different towns pleaded with Ben and I (to come and practice in their towns), with lots of areas in regional New South Wales craving doctors.
‘‘Deniliquin is not the only one suffering severely from the effects of a lack of medical care.
‘‘We love it here though. We love the river and the bubbly little town, and it’s a great family environment.
‘‘My husband and I really wanted to do rural medicine; it’s something that I love. I love delivering babies and Ben loves anaesthetics and emergency medicine.
‘‘The river drew us in and the maternity ward looked great. The hospital looked like it had excellent services, and I felt I could add to that.
‘‘But we still need more doctors, and we need to promote Deni more to get them to come here.’’
Dr James grew up in Perth and through a Bachelor of Science found a pathway to medical practice.
She completed a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at Flinders University in Adelaide, graduating in 2013.
In 2014 she interned at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, then moved to obstetrics and gynaecology at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital Adelaide in 2015.
In 2016 and 2017 she continued her training at Wagga Base Hospital, in obstetrics and gynaecology and then paediatrics.
While in Deniliquin, Dr James is training towards her GP fellowship with the Australian Rural and Remote College of Medicine (ACRRM) , which includes further training in emergency medicine and GP practice.
She will finish her training with Dr Ian Dumbrell at Deniliquin Central Clinic, while contracted to Deniliquin Hospital.
Her services include offering general practitioner consultations, being an on-call doctor for the emergency department and for maternity, where she can assist with natural and caesarian births.
Dr James then intends to take up a permanent position with Deniliquin Clinic, alongside her husband and doctors Marion Magee and Robert Campbell.
Dr Dumbrell last year led a push to have Deniliquin’s ‘district of workforce shortage’ classification changed to ease the doctor shortage crisis.
The classification would allow for local surgeries to recruit overseas trained doctors.
It is determined in part by the number of Medicare billings to doctors in a particular area.
With most Deniliquin surgeries at capacity for patients, those without a local doctor are seeking medical assistance in other towns.
It presents a ‘catch 22’, in that those statistics are not counted when considering a ‘district of workforce shortage’ for Deniliquin.
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