Long-time Outreach provider plans ahead

Dr John Eden, a long-standing Outreach gynaecology provider who has been delivering outreach clinics to Moree for nine years, will retire in June 2019.

During his time providing Outreach clinics at Pius X Aboriginal Corporation in Moree, Dr Eden has been committed to maintaining accessible gynaecology services for the community and, in planning his retirement, has adopted a proactive approach to succession planning to ensure continuity of service after his departure.

Dr Eden planned his retirement with RDN’s local partners, Pius and HealthWise, and three colleagues at the Women’s Health & Research Institute of Australia, who will continue to provide outreach clinics on a rotational basis and continuity of care for patients. The incoming gynaecologists are all female and have specialised qualifications including adolescent and paediatric gynaecology, pain management, and advanced keyhole surgery and colposcopy.

Dr Eden has demonstrated the value that proactive succession planning plays in ensuring access to high quality Outreach services is maintained during periods of workforce transition.

In his nine years of Outreach to Moree, Dr Eden has conducted 93 outreach visits, providing 734 clinic hours and 1,876 patient occasions of care, of which 701 were accessed by Aboriginal patients. 

Of course, these figures don’t adequately represent the positive impact that Dr Eden and the teams at Pius X and Healthwise have made over nearly a decade of Outreach.

RDN would like to expresses its gratitude to Dr Eden for his very significant contribution to the Outreach Program and the community of Moree.

Pictured: University of Notre Dame medical student Jennifer Stokes, Medical Receptionist Patricia Duncan, Reproductive Endocrinologist Dr John Eden and Margie Burns, Women's Health Nurse at Hunter New England Area Health Service.