Bendigo Health is now one of a handful of regional hospitals across Australia which holds the top level of emergency department.ation.
Bendigo Health’s ability attract and retain more junior doctors to the Loddon Mallee region has been enhanced after its Emergency Department (ED) received the highest level of training accreditation in Australia.
The Australasian College of Emergency Medicine recently accredited the ED as a 24-month training site, meaning junior doctors can do most of their emergency medicine training in Bendigo.
Bendigo Health is now one of a handful of regional hospitals across Australia which holds the top level of certification. In 2006, Bendigo Health had a six-month accreditation.
Acting Director of Bendigo Health ED, Simon Smith said the recognition was testament to the hard work of the training team and the department.
“This will mean more junior doctors can spend more time training in Bendigo, making them more likely to stay on and work in a regional setting,” he said.
Emergency Physician and Director of training in Bendigo Health ED, Ben McKenzie said a variety of factors contributed to the accreditation.
“We see the full breadth of trauma here in Bendigo, from children to major trauma to women’s health,” he said.
How busy an ED is and how many consultants it has available to train doctors also contributes to the rating, Dr McKenzie said.
In 2018-19 Bendigo Health had 57,253 emergency presentations – an increase of 15 per cent over the past two years.
Of those presentations, more than half were in the most serious medical categories.