Community-led innovation: How one rural town found more doctors
What happens when a rural community decides to stop waiting for someone else to solve its biggest problem?
For the people of Mudgee in central-west New South Wales, it meant creating their own solution to the growing shortage of GPs. The result is Doctors 4 Mudgee, a community-led initiative that set an ambitious goal of attracting 10 new doctors in three years.
Just 11 months in, they're already halfway there.
In this episode of Ducks on the Pond, Kirsten Diprose speaks with winemaker, business owner and Doctors 4 Mudgee Region Program Coordinator Kate Day. While Kate never imagined she'd be working in healthcare recruitment, she's helped build a program that's becoming a blueprint for regional Australia.
The conversation explores why welcoming doctors' families has been just as important as offering financial incentives, and how a simple idea—a "lifestyle concierge" service—has helped new GPs feel connected from day one.
Kate also shares the remarkable story behind her wine business, In Two Minds Wine, founded with her sister-in-law
