New doctors in Gunnedah

Barber Street Practice registrars Dr Sarah Woodford (nee Clark) and Dr Adam Smith are among a new push of doctors heading back into rural generalist pathways.

According to the Australian Government, one-third of 2025’s cohort of future General Practitioners (GPs) are training for Rural Generalism – while the core element of this training is general practice, these doctors also have skills in emergency medicine and additional areas of need for their community.

For the past two consecutive years, careers in primary care have been the most popular choice for new medical graduates.

The timing couldn’t be better for Dr Woodford, who grew up in Gunnedah, as she returns to practise in her hometown for the first time.

Dr Woodford completed her studies at UNSW in Sydney, including three years at UNSW’s rural clinical school in Wagga Wagga. She went on to complete her internship at John Hunter Hospital, before returning to Tamworth Hospital in 2022 for residency and further training in paediatrics and emergency medicine, before transitioning into general practice.

“It’s great to be back, I’ve missed home – the place and the people – and I have already felt so welcomed back into the community,” the rural generalist registrar said.

“I’ve been trying to get back for a few years now but with hospital and other requirements of GP training, this is the earliest I could come back.”

Dr Woodford’s interest is in paediatrics, including adolescent medicine and behavioural and developmental paediatrics – though enjoys the full spectrum of general practice.

“I like looking after a little bit of everything, though there is a special place in my heart for paediatrics,” Dr Woodford said.

“The variety of people you meet in general practice is really fascinating.

“It is quite fulfilling to look after the various needs that people go to a GP for.

“In rural general practice there’s a huge need for GPs and so that’s quite rewarding too, to be able to serve the community and fill a very real gap.”

While happy in Gunnedah for now, Dr Woodford said wherever her future career leads, it will have a strong focus on rural medicine.

“My husband is a medical student in fourth year at the moment, so it will depend a bit on his career, where he can practice and if he can do that in the local region,” she said.

“[But] rural will always be the goal, and I’m working on it being Gunnedah.”

Dr Woodford works at Barber Street Practice on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursday mornings, with some dedicated appointments for paediatric patients.

Fellow registrar Dr Smith is also enjoying time at Barber Street Practice in Gunnedah.

He grew up on a farm in the Lismore region in northern NSW before studying medicine at the University of New England in Armidale.

Dr Smith discovered a love for rural medicine, particularly the hospital field and general practice.

“General practice is where I want to end up, but I do like the addition of hospital work as well,” he said.

“I thought how I can combine the two, so I did a sub-specialty in obstetrics.”

It was one of several specialty areas that Dr Smith considered alongside surgery and anaesthetics, as all are in demand in rural areas. But he settled on obstetrics for its strong reputation in the area.

“That’s one of the things that brought me to Gunnedah,” he said.

“I knew Dr Law and Dr Parsons were doing obstetrics here and they have quite a good reputation and I wanted to learn from them.”

Dr Smith is also performing occasional shifts at Tamworth Hospital’s emergency department and hoped to eventually bring his skills to Gunnedah Hospital as well.

In the meantime, he planned to offer his Gunnedah patients the same country hospitality that he and his family continue to enjoy.

“I have an idea of what rural people are going through, I’ve lived that life, and still like living that life, so I have a few different topics I can talk to them about,” he said.

“I can understand why they’re doing things a certain way and advise other possible ways to improve their health in small ways that in the long term, can help a lot.”

The registrars’ training in Gunnedah comes amid the imminent recognition by the Australian Government of Rural Generalism as an official medical specialty.

According to the government, under Australian law, for a new medical specialty to be recognised, it must first be assessed and recommended by the Australian Medical Council. That assessment and recommendation is now complete and an application to recognise Rural Generalism is expected to be approved soon.

In the latest Medical Deans’ survey of new medical graduates, close to 1 in 5 graduates say they aspire to become a GP or rural generalist, with 18 per cent of new graduates selecting the specialties.