3.2 ADTOS - getting the supports right
Tracks
Crown Ballroom 3A
| Thursday, October 23, 2025 |
| 11:40 AM - 12:10 PM |
| Crown Ballroom 3A |
Details
Format: Panel discussion (30-minute)
Speaker
Mrs Peta Rutherford
Chief Executive Officer
RDAA
ADTOS - getting the supports right
11:40 AM - 12:10 PMAbstract Overview
The Rural Doctors Association of Australia is committed to supporting Australian Doctors who Trained Overseas. For many communities in rural and remote Australia we have relied upon overseas doctors who come to Australia for work, to provide the medical care. The review led by Prof Robyn Kurt outlined a number of areas where the Australian system needed to improve. These recommendations are now in process of being implemented.
So in this time of change, including new pathways to specialist registration, have we got the supports right? What issues remain unaddressed, has it improved or have the recommendations been with good intent but now poorly executed and what can we do better, as colleagues, employers, and Governments?
Join us to unpack all of this and more.
So in this time of change, including new pathways to specialist registration, have we got the supports right? What issues remain unaddressed, has it improved or have the recommendations been with good intent but now poorly executed and what can we do better, as colleagues, employers, and Governments?
Join us to unpack all of this and more.
Biography
Peta is the CEO at the Rural Doctors Association of Australia, and has been in that role for over eight years. Having dragged her family around Queensland to take up rural hospital management roles in South West Qld and the South Burnett region of Darling Downs HHS, she has finally let them settled in Canberra. Peta is passionate about supporting our rural and remote communities having access to quality medical care. She uses all her previous experience with Qld Health including roles in medical workforce planning and the previously mentioned rural hospital management and 10 years at Medicare, and the support of a great cohort of RDA members across the country, to work with the Commonwealth to find solutions and develop initiatives.
Dr RT Lewandowski
President
RDAA
Co-presenter
Biography
Dr RT Lewandowski is a Rural Generalist in Far North Queensland, and an ACRRM Fellow with advanced skills in operative obstetrics and endoscopy. He currently provides endoscopy services at Cairns Base hospital and obstetric and emergency services at several rural hospitals in far North Queensland. He spent the previous 8 years providing general practice, emergency, obstetrics and endoscopy services in Kingaroy (Queensland), after emigrating from the United States in 2008 where he worked as a rural doctor in Missouri for 12 years.
Dr Lewandowski became President of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) in October 2023, after serving for the previous year as RDAA President-elect. He is a past President of the Rural Doctors Association of Queensland (RDAQ), and a former Director of the Rural Doctors Foundation.
