Last week UCRH hosted the annual face to face meeting of the North Coast Medical Education Collaboration (NCMEC).
Since 2007 we have delivered the North Coast Medical Education Collaboration between the Universities of Wollongong, Western Sydney and Sydney to provide placements for long stay medical students in addition to our shorter stay students.
This year’s meeting was attended by the Deans of Medicine from the University of Sydney (Professor Stephen Fuller), University of Wollongong (Professor Zsuzsoka Kecskes) and Western Sydney University (Professor Rod McClure). Key academic and professional staff from each university attended, as did staff from the Northern NSW and Clarence Valley regional training hubs. We were also pleased to welcome representatives of the Northern NSW Local Health District (Chief Executive, Tracey Maisey and Acting Executive Director of Medical Services, Dr Malcolm Leek) and Healthy North Coast (Director of Primary Care Impact and Partnerships, Luke Elias).
The annual gathering is an important opportunity to reflect on the impact of the collaboration, something demonstrated by the number of graduating students choosing to stay in the Northern Rivers. In 2025, 15 of the 18 intern positions at Lismore Base Hospital will be filled by UCRH students: nine from University of Sydney, four from Western Sydney University and two from University of Wollongong. Five other students have also elected to remain in the region, taking up intern positions at Tweed Valley Hospital.
The NCMEC meeting allows a broad discussion of delivery of each of the medical programs, and consideration of any updates to curriculum. It also provides a valuable chance to share the broader work done at UCRH, much of which the medical students are involved in during the course of their placements. This year we used the meeting to showcase the range of research around climate change, disaster preparedness and environmental health.
