Community care in the Curry

The small northwest town of Cloncurry stretches just a few kilometres along the Barkly Highway, an hour and a half out from Mount Isa. But don’t let its size fool you. Cloncurry is a growing and diverse community with some of the friendliest locals you’ll meet in your life.

Cloncurry is also a place where junior doctors are discovering rich and rewarding careers in rural generalism and general practice. Dr Emma Gillmore moved to Cloncurry in 2020 with her husband and two young daughters to commence GP training through James Cook University’s program for registrars. After Fellowing in 2021, Dr Gillmore chose to stay and has been there ever since.

“There's a really strong community spirit in Cloncurry. I think there’s a palpable difference being in Cloncurry compared to a lot of other places. There is a really strong sense of unity,” Dr Gillmore says.

From a clinical perspective, Dr Gillmore says Cloncurry offers a broad scope of practice and diverse patient caseload, which provides the perfect opportunity for junior doctors to fast-track their growth and competency.

“You see a lot of patients with significant chronic diseases that you wouldn't necessarily see in city areas. You manage everything out here. You manage strokes, heart attacks, car accidents, paediatric issues, gout, arthritis. You’re the rural GP, it’s up to you."

“There’s only a couple of us in town, so if you’re on call then whatever comes through the door you’re the doctor who handles it. We had a patient who needed a lateral canthotomy, which is a really rare procedure. Another doctor and I performed the procedure, and it’s not something we would get the opportunity to do in a larger tertiary hospital setting,” Dr Gillmore says.

With plenty of long-term locals in Cloncurry, GPs have the opportunity to build strong doctor-patient relationships. It’s a facet of general practice that contributes to better health outcomes for patients and can also be incredibly rewarding for doctors, as Dr Gillmore has found.

“As a GP in Cloncurry, you manage every breadth and every facet of people’s health, both their mental and physical health.  It is very rewarding to be part of your patients’ journey through life and health care.

“You’re seeing a patient through pregnancy, then you’re caring for the child as well. That’s the whole point of rural generalism, that if you stay here long enough you get to be part of the generations of these families, which to me is amazing,” Dr Gillmore says.

While Dr Gillmore and her family have recently moved a few hours north to Normanton, she says new doctors can expect a very warm welcome to Cloncurry. And though there are long-term and experienced doctors serving the community, there is still an urgent need for more doctors to come to the rural town for general practice training.

“Most doctors say they got into medicine to be challenged, to work with likeminded people, and to help people especially where the need is greatest. All of this can be found in the life of a Rural doctor,” Dr Gillmore says.

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