Welcome to RRIPM’s Monthly Wrap-up for November 2023

Equitable geographic access to high quality palliative care is one of four priorities under ANZSPM’s current Strategic Plan. To advance this priority, ANZSPM has collaborated with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians to scope and establish an integrated rural training network offering specialist palliative medicine training for clinicians who want to live and work in rural and remote Australia.
With this vision in mind, a Rural and Remote Institute of Palliative Medicine (RRIPM) is being designed by rural doctors for rural doctors. It will be based on an RACP competency-based curriculum and will offer a full range of high-quality and supported training experiences in predominately rural locations. It will ensure that a new generation of palliative medicine clinicians are ready to take on the responsibility of delivering end-of-life care to communities right across the Australian continent.

In early November, RRIPM’s Project Leader, Dr Christine Sanderson (based in Alice Springs) and Project Manager, Jo Risk, met up in Adelaide to evaluate what the initial scoping phase has delivered so far. As reported in October’s update, Jo Risk has interviewed over 50 rurally based palliative medicine specialists and stakeholders from all over Australia and commenced the process of pulling together all the big picture thinking the RRIPM vision requires.

Photo Caption: Putting their heads together in Adelaide – Jo Risk and Dr Christine Sanderson.

A survey was also dispatched via the College Trainee Network and the ANZSPM mailing list. Only by channelling feedback from palliative medicine trainees can valuable intel be gathered about how best to support people training rurally in terms of job-matching, remote education, networking, supervision, and future career pathways. The Trainee Survey link will remain open until the end of November, so if you are a trainee and haven’t filled it out yet, we ask that you make it a priority. Click here to fill out the Trainee Survey.

On 6th December, a Think Tank, made up of a small cohort of fully invested rurally based palliative medicine specialists will join forces with the RRIPM Project Team for a workshop in Sydney. They’ll be rolling up their sleeves, drawing on white boards and defining the practicalities of implementing a RRIPM.
The RRIPM Project Team have also circulated invitations for an introductory webinar they will be hosting on Friday 8th December at 1pm AEST. Titled, Beyond the ‘Burbs: Future-proofing Palliative Medicine for Rural Australia, the webinar aims to:

  • Introduce the concept and create an initial channel for conversations about RRIPM
  • Raise the profile of RRIPM with a wider group of stakeholders
  • Flag RRIPM’s agenda with a Reference Group to ensure alignment with the broader public health and palliative care sectors
  • Give people a heads up about what is coming
  • Prepare for a more substantive discussion in early 2024.

Haven’t signed up for the webinar yet? There’s still time to register. Click here.

Over two days in late November, the ANZSPM 2023 Medical and Surgical Update was held in the bustling heart of Melbourne. Dr Louis Christie from the Western NSW LHD in Orange gave delegates at the conference a quick rundown on RRIPM. We hope you managed to catch him. If not, follow our Call to Action and register for the webinar here.