Doctor Support Unit proving its worth at South Metro

South Metropolitan Health Service (SMHS) has more than 1,200 DiTs and we are encouraged by the survey participation of 295 of our doctors and the increase in scores across almost all categories. We attribute this to our continued strong focus on supporting our DiTs, along with the efforts of our senior doctors and the creation of our Doctor Support Unit (DSU) almost 12 months ago. 

DiTs are crucial to the delivery of patient care and the future of healthcare, and the dedicated DSU encompasses medical education, medical workforce, and medical strategy and innovation. The unit provides a space for listening, collaboration, and a solution-focused approach to enhancing our doctors’ professional development and wellbeing. We have now extended to be SMHS network-wide, including Rockingham General Hospital, Peel Health Campus and Cockburn Mental Health.

The HHC is a valuable feedback pathway and our DSU has additional avenues to connect with our DiTs. These include regular Executive-DiT meetings; our confidential, anonymous electronic feedback pathway (Maali Yarning); and our DSU Ward walks. 

We’re pleased to see our DiTs supporting our endeavours around increasing leave availability and our continuously expanding educational, mentoring, career development and wellbeing programs. We were delighted this year to appoint to DSU two senior medical staff specifically to mentor and advocate for our valued medical and surgical service registrars. 

We’ve had great feedback about our new unique intern opportunities with terms in Neonatology, Paediatrics, Palliative Care, Hyperbaric Medicine, Burns State Service, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Cardiothoracics. We are currently focusing on expanding our research opportunities for DiTs and further improving accessibility to education and training. 

We feel privileged to support and guide our DiTs, but know there is much more to do. We are committed to ensuring that our junior doctors are supported, recognised and valued.