JCU to unveil facility for GPs
Council waits for theatre fire risk report
NEARLY 200 students studying medicine in Cairns will be able to practise their skills in a new laboratory to be launched today.
James Cook University is expanding its presence in the Far North with the opening of its new clinical skills lab at its Cairns CBD campus.
The lab includes a simulated hospital ward and general practitioner (GP) consulting rooms, which are to be used by 180 medical students, and by qualified doctors completing GP training.
JCU was awarded a $20 million contract by the Federal Government in late 2015 to provide training for graduates seeking to be specialist GPs under the Australian General Practice Training Program.
The contract covers a majority of Queensland, except for Brisbane, the Gold Coast, and the Darling Downs.
Professor Richard Murray, the university’s dean of the college of medicine and dentistry, said having medical students and qualified doctors working together in the same building meant they could provide continuity of support for those choosing to work and train in Cairns.
He said there would be opportunities through the school for training GPs interested in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, with a new web page also being launched to guide medical professionals to training posts.
“It’s wonderful to see a new generation of doctors and GPs completing training in the Cairns region and completing training in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health,” he said.
“The new web page will help guide doctors to training posts where they can develop real skills to help close the gap in healthcare outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.”
JCU’s $10 million Cairns CBD campus, which opened in April last year, features five levels of state-of-the-art teaching, study and meeting facilities. RESULTS from testing of potentially flammable cladding surrounding the Cairns Performing Arts Centre will not be known for another two weeks.
Cairns Regional Council was expecting testing to be carried out late yesterday.
The $71.1 million centre was due to be opened by December 15.
However the discovery of the potential fire hazard has put the date in jeopardy.
A council spokeswoman said a report would be prepared by the testing engineer and this would be provided to the Queensland Fire and Emergency Service within the next two weeks.
The centre, opposite Munro Martin Parklands, is one of 735 buildings across the Cairns region, which also includes the Cairns Hospital D block, which are subject to the safety issue.
The building audit was a response to London’s Grenfell Tower disaster, which claimed the lives of 80 people and injured at least 70 on June 14, 2017.
In the wake of the disaster, the health department had told the Cairns Post that the D block’s exterior cladding was not a fire hazard.