About Us

| Current Activities and projects | Committees | Special Interest Groups |

RDASA’s vision is to act as an advocate to improve the health of rural communities by ensuring that there is a workforce of highly skilled and motivated rural medical practitioners who have received appropriate training and the necessary incentives, remuneration and support to work in rural communities to achieve the best health outcomes for their communities.

RDASA Activities

Representatives from different regions of rural South Australia link up via Teleconference on a six-weekly basis to discuss important issues facing rural doctors and health issues in their communities.

RDASA has two representatives who meet with the RDAA Committee of Management on a regular basis to discuss many of the national issues that are facing rural doctors and participate in decision making and formulating policy at a National level. RDASA lobbies actively on a wide range of issues which are important to rural medical practitioners and their communities and is involved in a number of collaborative efforts with both State and Federal Departments of Health and with interaction with the Minister of Health and a number of other medico-political organisations in South Australia.

RDASA has a small secretariat and executive consisting of the President, Vice President and Treasurer and welcomes feedback from all country doctors regarding issues that face them in their working life.

RDASA has formed a number of special interest groups including

• Anaesthetics
• Surgery
• Obstetrics
• Mental Health
• Female Doctors
• International Medical Graduates

 Members of the RDASA Committee also represent RDASA on a number of other committees including the GP Forum Group, Clinical Reference Group, Consent Working Party Group and Retrieval Working Party. Senior RDASA Committee of Management Members are also on the AMA Branch Council as well as representing RDAA in a number of National committees involving issues such as Medicare item numbers, medical indemnity, emergency department waiting times and education and workforce planning groups.

RDASA has a strong relationship with the Rural Doctors Workforce Agency.  We have 3 members elected to the RDWA Board by the members of RDASA.  These are Richard Mackinnon, David Senior and David Rosenthal.  RDASA and RDWA hold a joint annual conference which has received enormous support from our members.

RDASA also has strong input into the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine with a number of it’s executive management involved in ACRRM policy and decision making.

Senior members of RDASA accompanied senior executives of the Department of Health on a statewide tour of rural SA early in 2005 to look at important issues facing rural doctors and on ways to support doctors and retain them working in rural communities. This lead to the formation of the Rural Doctors Reference Group, which in April 2005 announced the package “Recognising the Past – Rewriting the Future – a New Partnership with Rural Doctors”.

This outlined the package of proposals which represents the first steps in an on going program designed to address important issues impacting on the medical workforce in country South Australia.  In excess of $27.2 million has been committed over the next four years by  the Office of Country Health to implement these proposals.

This was an innovative package based on a consultation process with doctors in 38 different locations practicing in country South Australia and has been widely recognised all over Australia.