General Surgery Registrar
Description
The Tweed Hospital (TTH) is a major acute public hospital care provider and referral facility in the Northern New South Wales Local Health District consisting of 250 beds with 24‐hour emergency services. The Hospital is located in the city of Tweed Heads and is the most northerly hospital in the state of New South Wales, only metres from Coolangatta on the Queensland Border and the southern end of the Gold Coast. Catchment population resides in the Southern Gold Coast and Tweed Valley extending just south of Byron Bay, with population projections of 265,000 by the end of 2019. Top 3 things to do: (1) Surf the superbank, (2) Visit Husk Distillery and (3) Visit Brunswick Heads and Byron Bay.
Location
Reviews
2024
Tweed Valley is a beautiful new hospital building with modern facilities that opened in 2024. I particularly enjoyed the large expansive workspaces where there was never any difficulty accessing a workstation or phone and all of the desks have "standing" functionality. That said, there are a few teething issues such as the very poor phone reception on virtually all floors which can make team communication challenging. The work itself was manageable enough and the team around me including the consultants were supportive and attentive. I worked in a junior registrar role and typically had 18 patients to see on the round during the day as well as 5-6 new moderate-complexity admissions to see on a take day. The on-site accommodation is quite small and humble but gets the job done for very short stints - I wouldn't recommend staying there for more than a night or two as it's actually inside the main hospital building. Kingscliff itself is a beautiful little beach-side suburb without too much happening, but you can get a nice pub feed at the Kingscliff Hotel after work with your team if time allows. Overall this is a solid locum at a medium-sized hospital.
2022
I really enjoyed my time at Tweed, I worked in the ED there as a Registrar. It's an excellent ED, with plenty of senior support. I stayed in hospital accommodation X 4 weeks, which was a 2 minute walk to hospital, shared a house with another doctor and his partner. Stunning location close to Gold Coast beaches and Byron Bay. Would definitely recommend to others.
2024
The workload was overall very manageable and there were both psychiatry and medical registrars available to call for help if needed. Everything being on iEMR made the occasional ward call shift slightly easier. For a relatively relaxed, beach-side placement, I would recommend!
2022
I've worked as a reg locum in O+G at the Tweed. Can't comment on accommodation but the consultants there are excellent. Very supportive and kind, they all live within 10-20 mins from the hospital. I highly recommend working here
2024
I locumed here as a relieving medical RMO in 2023 at the old Tweed Hospital site. My co-residents were all interns, however they were extremely diligent, honest, hard-working and welcoming, which made my job a breeze. On many days I was hardly required for acute medical work, and was often able to complete discharge summaries or other administrative work at my leisure. On some days the workload can be substantial, however. Naturally as a reliever I was chopping and changing teams constantly and at times this was poorly communicated, so I found it easier and more enjoyable to be independently looking for work myself by approaching colleagues directly. The IT systems are powered by iEMR, and other than a few hiccups to do with my login to begin with, were largely satisfactory. I stayed in a flat leased by the hospital about 400m from the site. It was comfortable, had good cooking facilities and I had the place to myself. I'd recommend the role overall, but do acknowledge that very physician-ly minded people from big metro centres might find the pace a little... rushed.
2022
I worked at Tweed full time in my intern / resident year and overall it was a good experience. Coming back to locum was a different story. I signed up for a couple RMO night shifts. When I arrived I was given the admitting med reg phone and discovered this was my job for the night. The role was clearly offered as a resident shift. Needless to say I didn’t make it to the second night shift. The admin here in general are terrible at communicating and all the JMOs had issues at some point related to pay, leave or something else. That being said I agree with the previous 2 reviews - the O+G department is great, awesome bosses and very welcoming culture. ED has a good team too and the admin there are way more on top of their stuff. The facilities ok but a bit overdue for an upgrade and everyone’s holding out for Tweed Valley Hospital in Cudgen!
2024
The term was split between the acute inpatient unit and the consult liaison team (don’t know if the latter role is always filled). On the inpatient unit, you are the resident for all the patients (that are split between 3-4 different consultant/registrar teams). You are responsible for reviewing all new admissions for history/examination and reviewing bloods/ecg etc. The role can be busy as there can be a quick turn around for patients. You also review any unwell patients or consult teams if there are medical issues but are well supported as most medical teams are on site at TVH. The registrars I worked with were great and did most of their own scripts and discharge summaries! I tried to join for the psych reviews as much as possible if I was on top of my work. The role is quite independent (as you cover all the teams) and it is up to you to prioritise your jobs. The CL role had lesser workload and it was much more psychiatry focused for the RMO role (as the home team worry about all the medical issues!) It also added variety to see conditions that are usually managed on the medical ward rather than the psych ward (eating disorders, catatonia, clozapine induced myocarditis). TVH is also a brand new facility with ocean and hinterland views!
Jan 13 to Jan 31