A successful example of (Re)Establishing a Genetic Counselling Service in rural NSW, Australia
The genetic counselling position in Goulburn for the Eastern Zone of Greater Southern Area Health Service is unique in Australia in several ways. Instead of being located at a local community health centre or hospital, the genetic counsellor is based in a tertiary level child development unit called the Child, Infant and Family Tertiary Service (CIFTS). The counsellor not only organizes and participates in genetic clinics where he is based, but also in four outreach towns. Geographically the area is quite large and sparsely populated with a number of small towns. The landscape differs from vast grazing land to coastal and mountainous terrains. Local community health centres are located in many of the larger towns with various visiting clinicians.
Before the current counsellor commenced in January 2005 the position was vacant for nearly 3 years. Part of the success of the service is that the counsellor is based in this community, is part of a team with other health care professionals and travels with this team to outreach locations. This poster outlines a cost effective model of how to provide a tertiary level specialist service in a large rural area and how to overcome specific problems experienced by this sort of geography. The advantages and disadvantages of the Genetic Counsellor working as part of a multidisciplinary team with a child assessment service, a summary of the clinical work experienced from the first year back in operation and methods used to re-establish the service are also listed.