Bay of Plenty receives campus status

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2018

Bay of Plenty receives campus status

The success of the Bay of Plenty District Health Board (DHB) as a teaching and research facility for the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences has resulted in it officially becoming a Clinical Campus.

This makes it the fifth such campus in New Zealand and only the second outside of Auckland.

The change from Clinical Site to Clinical Campus recognises the expansion of the Faculty’s training opportunities, research activities and presence in the region.

Distinguished Professor Ian Reid, Deputy Dean of the Faculty, says that the Bay of Plenty DHB is a major teaching and research facility for the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, and this change acknowledges its significance.

“It also recognises the major contribution the Bay of Plenty DHB makes to our clinical training, the excellence of the staff, and the outstanding teaching they are able to provide,” he says.

Because the site is now an official Clinical Campus, Professor Peter Gilling has been appointed to the new role of Assistant Dean Bay of Plenty. Based at Tauranga Hospital, he is both a Professor of Surgery at the University’s School of Medicine and the current Head of the Bay of Plenty DHB Clinical School.

Considered one of New Zealand’s most knowledgeable and experienced doctors, Professor Gilling has helped to oversee the steady expansion of the University’s specialist training hub in the Bay of Plenty over the past eight years.

“We are very pleased to have achieved this milestone in our development and are looking forward to increasing collaboration with the University. This moves our relationship to another level,” he says.

This year, the Bay of Plenty DHB will welcome 58 University of Auckland medical students on year-long placements, alongside students from other health programmes including nursing, pharmacy, and dietetics.

Since last year these placements were expanded to include students from all three clinical training years (fourth, fifth and sixth year students). Also for the second year-running, fifth year medical students will spend three months at Whakatāne Hospital completing hospital based and general practice based placements.

Bay of Plenty becomes the University’s second regional Clinical Campus after Waikato. The Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences also operates Clinical Campuses at Auckland, Waitemata and Counties Manukau DHBs.

Note to editors:
The University of Auckland has worked closely with regional and rural hospitals and DHBs for decades to provide meaningful and holistic learning opportunities for students outside of Auckland. For the past eight years the University has invested significantly in expanding these opportunities in conjunction with DHBs and the Government.

The Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences draws many students from the upper North Island with the expectation that graduates will provide the health workforce for the region. Research also shows that providing regional and rural training for doctors and nurses increases the likelihood that they will choose to practice in the regions.

In conjunction with the Government the University of Auckland is increasing numbers of medical graduates and the expansions in the regional DHBs are intended to help this flow on to the rural health workforce in New Zealand. The number of junior doctors being graduated is expected to increase to 280 by 2020.

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