TWO SWANSEA DOCTORS AT HEART OF HEALTHY LIVING
AN East Coast husband and wife have been recognised as the best rural doctors in the state.
The Rural Doctors Association of Tasmania recently selected Swanseabased doctors Dr Camilla Byrne and Dr Andrew Grove as joint recipients of the 2021 RDAT Rural Doctor of the Year Award.
“Camilla and Andrew have been the sole GPs in Swansea for 17 years, and are known for their high standards of care and their amazing support of medical student teaching in Tasmania,” said association president Dr Eve Merfield.
“They run a general practice, are on-call 24/7 for the hospital urgent care centre, and use their accident and emergency skills regularly, as the nearest major hospital is two hours away.”
Dr Grove said winning the award was a wonderful surprise and credited the success of their clinic to the couple’s varied skill sets.
“Camilla and I work well together, and our different skills complement each other’s” he said.
“Camilla’s scope is more concentrated on women’s and child and adolescent health, whereas I see most of the men’s health issues.”
Dr Byrne said she was humbled by the award and credited her childhood as a reason for her commitment to rural health.
“I grew up in rural Queensland and I really believe that rural communities should get the same standard of health care as their city counterparts, so that’s what we are striving for,” she said.
Dr Byrne said she hoped the publicity of the award would encourage more doctors to work in rural communities.
“It’s challenging, but it’s a great lifestyle here,” she said.
“What we want to come from this award is for doctors to see that working in rural communities is a great and rewarding lifestyle.”