Doctors have welcomed an initiative aimed at luring more dermatologists to regional and remote Australia, where residents currently face lengthy waiting times for skin checks.
The Australasian College of Dermatologists (ACD) will create two projects in Townsville and Darwin, in a bid to increase work and training opportunities outside metropolitan areas.
The project has been funded through the federal government's Flexible Approach to Training in Expanded Settings (FATES) program, which aims to bring more specialists to regional areas.
The funding follows concerns raised by the ACD nine months ago that there were just 550 practising dermatologists in Australia.
"ACD welcomes the Federal Government's FATES program," president Dr Clare Tait said.
"We look forward to working collaboratively with the federal government and other stakeholders to pilot these high quality, collaborative and innovative models for trainee supervision, service provision, outreach and capacity building in currently under-serviced regional, remote and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities."
More skin in the game
The pilot programs will be tailored to meet the specific demands and skin conditions in Townsville and Darwin.
The Townsville project will link dermatology services and image-based melanoma detection and diagnostic tools at Townsville University Hospital with the Melanoma Institute of Australia in Sydney, creating 'virtual supervisors'.
It is a move that has been welcomed by Townsville University Hospital's Dr Aaron Boyce, who will be leading the pilot program in a region that has high rates of skin cancer.
"Regional Australia desperately needs more dermatologists," Dr Boyce said.
"Initiatives like this not only improve services for our community today, they provide doctors in training with the positive experiences that we hope will bring them back to regional Australia in the future."
He is also hoping the push to get more dermatologists out of big cities will help reduce regional health stigma.
"We are also showing our trainees that the quality of care provided in regional Australia is first class and that we as specialists can remain closely connected with colleagues across the country, despite the tyranny of distance."
Unique demands
Darwin is also expected to benefit from a pilot program at the Royal Darwin Hospital, which will use a supervisory rotational system for specialist dermatology training, and add visiting dermatologists.
This is expected to build capacity for a rural training centre, where trainees can develop knowledge and expertise in Indigenous, tropical and rural dermatology.
"The community stands to gain significantly from this initiative," Dr Dev Tilakaratne, who will be leading the project in Darwin, said.
"Patients will be able to receive care from specialists with diverse sub-speciality expertise.
"In addition, it will improve capacity to increase outreach service provision to remote communities outside of the greater Darwin area".
