The dedicated section on rural health will combine all the units and leadership dealing with rural health in the general practice and rural health department.
Section head Garry Nixon said the new structure should result in more health professionals living and working in rural communities, better streamlining of undergraduate and post-graduate postings to rural practices and greater research into rural health issues.
“It has been made clear by the university to the section that there is an expectation the research side of things be given quite a lot of priority so there should be a strengthening of rural health research in the university.”
Existing research investigated the health workforce and education and diagnostics but Nixon said the volume was small compared to research done in rural Canada and Australia.
The new section will provide commentary and interpretation related to the health needs of rural communities.
It is also a step towards the creation of a national school of rural health, a proposal by the university in conjunction with Auckland University, Auckland University of Technology and the College of General Practitioners.
That proposal, being considered by the Government, would see various tertiary providers and professional bodies share infrastructure and resources in rural communities.
“A national school of rural health would need a home within each of the partner institutions and this would help set up the Dunedin school of medicine and department of general practice and rural health to potentially be that home within the University of Otago,” Nixon said.
“Importantly, it will increase the number of staff living and working in rural communities, help ensure teaching in these communities is more co-ordinated as well as increasing capacity for rural research.”
Waikato University has also proposed establishing a medical school specialising in rural health.
A spokesman for said that proposal is still being considered by the Government.
