Name North West Tasmania Division of General Practice Division Number 703 Classification Rural Number of Member GPs 98 State Tasmania Year Established 1994 Number of Member Practices 27 Postcodes Covered 7256, 7305, 7306, 7307, 7310, 7315, 7316, 7320, 7321, 7322, 7325, 7330, 7331, 7466, 7467, 7468, 7469, 7470 Population 107,027 (2001 Census) Area Covered North West Coast of Tasmania, an area of 21486 square kilometres. CEO Ms Elvie Hales Chair Dr Nicholas Barnes Physical Address: Harris Building 49-51 Cattley St BURNIE TAS 7320 Australia Postal Address: PO Box 1221 BURNIE TAS 7320 Australia Email: elviehales@nwtasdgp.com.au Phone: 03 6432 1440 Fax: 03 6431 7827 Website: http://www.nwtasdgp.com.au

The Division is totally rural and has four regional centres of Devonport, Burnie, Smithton (Circular Head municipality), and West Coast. The majority of the population lives in Devonport, Ulverstone and Burnie. The remainder of the region is decentralised.

The population of North West Tasmania has been declining over the past decade , however there has been a slight increase in population during the past two years. The population is aging although the distribution of aged is variable across the region. High unemployment and low socioeconomic status are important factors in determining health status.

Thirty two percent of the Tasmanian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island population resides in North West Tasmania.

The North West region has the lowest proportion of non-English speaking people for the State.

The key aim of the Division is to promote quality care through general practice for the benefit of the local community.

Major Achievements:

• High level of childhood immunisation rates across region with high uptake of cold chain audit by practices.
• Successful implementation of a program assisting GP practices with accreditation.
• High uptake of Division-provided education and training program
• High uptake among GPs of the Partners in Mental Health Initiative
• Establishment of a highly utilised network for rural female doctors in providing peer support.
• Successful submission for Rural Palliative Care Project
• Winner of inaugural ADGP Award for Excellence in Governance

Challenges for the future:

• Seeking solutions to workforce issues across primary health areas
• Strengthening provision of allied heath services to rural centres and allocation of resources to support rural GPs
• Building on existing activities to better support Overseas Trained Doctors in the region
• Seeking resources to address informtion technology / management issues in general practice
• Utlizing strategic partnership approaches to build research capacity in primary health areas
• Positioning the Division to play a key role in influencing local, state and national primary health policy

Subscribe to Page