Rural medical students heading for Taupō

Dr Ralston D'Souza. Photo: Supplied

Taupō Hospital will become a long-term training site for University of Auckland medical students in 2027. 

By Dan Hutchinson

Year 5 medical students on the university's Rural Medical Immersion Programme (RMIP) will spend a year learning alongside Taupō Hospital doctors, local general practitioners and multidisciplinary health care teams. 

In a statement Health New Zealand |Te Whatu Ora Group Director Operations for Lakes Alan Wilson says Taupō's inclusion into the programme is possible because of the “outstanding commitment” of Taupō Hospital Clinical Lead Dr Ralston D’Souza and local clinicians to growing the future rural medical workforce. 

In April this year, Radio New Zealand obtained figures that showed only 3.3 out of nine senior doctor positions were filled at Taupō Hospital

Since then, Dr Anna Gray has completed her Rural Hospital Medicine training and is back at Taupō Hospital, where she first worked as a trainee intern.

She says it’s good to be contributing to a community that invested in her early. 

“My first exposure to Taupō was as a trainee intern. My partner and I had moved to Rotorua for mountain biking and as a junior doctor I loved the place, the community and Lakes generally.”

Taupō News has requested more information from Health New Zealand about the state of senior doctor vacancies at Taupō Hospital.

Dr Ralston D’Souza says he and his colleagues are very excited to join the RMIP programme, to train and support students and inspire them to choose careers in rural medicine. 

Ready to welcome long-term medical students to Taupō Hospital are (from left) Dr Robin Chan rural generalist and GP Liaison, Hannah Hickey administration team lead and Taupō medical student coordinator, Dr Kiara Theron house officer and Dr Ralston D'Souza clinical lead.

“The team at Taupō Hospital has worked really hard to build a culture of training and pastoral care for both our students and resident doctors. 

In the last three years, doctors at the hospital have been supervising about 50 medical students across years 4, 5 and 6 on short placements.  

They try to ensure students have a “great clinical experience” both in the hospital and the community and offer a teaching programme that includes early exposure to point of care ultrasound training.

The strongest advocates for expanding the programme to Taupō have been past students, Dr D’Souza says.  

He says while living and working in Taupō, students develop an understanding of the unique strengths and challenges of rural medicine and become part of the community.  

“The Taupō community is a wonderful place to live and work – there is plenty for medical students to do in their leisure time with the lake, trails and mountain bike tracks.”    

Dr D’Souza says completing the Whakatāne Rural Health Interprofessional Programme in 2016 completely changed the trajectory of his life. 

“I grew up in Auckland and now I live and work in Taupō as a rural hospital medicine specialist and GP. I’m hoping to inspire more students to do the same.” 

Taupō will be the programme's fifth long-placement site, joining the established locations of Hāwera, Hauraki/Thames, Te Kūiti, and Wellsford. 

In April this year Dr D’Souza confirmed that Taupō Hospital was accredited to deliver Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) training.

He said at the time that would still require enough permanent senior doctors to supervise the students.

Taupō News has also requested more information about progress on that programme.