Four years ago Taranaki DHB’s Base Hospital ED had just two Australasian College of Emergency Medicine (ACEM) fellows. Now it employs 15 fellows making Taranaki DHB the second largest employer of fellows nationwide after Auckland.

This is no small feat for a DHB the size of Taranaki and the ACEM has recently acknowledged Taranaki DHB for employing the most ED consultants at a regional centre who have completed their fellowships and are now officially recognised as emergency medicine specialists.

“This is a significant achievement for our ED Consultants and our DHB, said Gillian Campbell, Taranaki DHB COO.

“They have worked extremely hard to gain a fellowship in emergency medicine and we are extremely proud of them.”

“With their wealth of experience and knowledge in emergency medicine the community can feel very confident they are in good hands when going to ED with urgent health concerns,” Mrs Campbell adds.

The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine is the not for profit organisation responsible for training emergency physicians in Australia and New Zealand. In 2015 Taranaki DHB’s Base Hospital ED was also recognised by the ACEM as a centre for specialist medicine training. Since then, all of the trainees who went through Base Hospital ED have successfully passed their exams.

Emergency medicine specialist Dr Devin Faragasso is proud to be one of the 15 fellows working at Base Hospital’s ED and says to be trained in emergency medicine at this level takes huge commitment.

“To become a fellow of the Australasian College requires a minimum of seven years post-graduate training and a series of rigorous assessments with written, oral, and practical examinations.

“Many of us originally trained as Emergency Specialists in the United States, but ACEM still required us to undergo a series of assessments and evaluations to obtain fellowship in New Zealand,” explains Dr Faragasso.

Director of Emergency Training at Taranaki DHB, Kelly Austin says having a team of 15 fellows with this level of experience readily available at Base Hospital means our patients are receiving the best care when they need it most.

“It also allows us to train the next generation of emergency specialists’ right here in Taranaki as well as providing close oversight of the junior doctors.”

“Our ED consultants tend to be more hands-on than at most other hospitals, directly caring for many patients. We also provide more after-hours emergency specialists than any other New Zealand hospital,” adds Kelly.

In early August, the ACEM hosted a celebration to recognise Taranaki DHB’s Base Hospital ED for having the second largest groups of new Fellows across New Zealand.

© Scoop Media