For people living in regional NSW, getting specialist care often comes with extra challenges, including cost, travel and long waiting times. By providing an accessible local option, patients can receive expert assessment and treatment sooner, helping them manage injuries and musculoskeletal conditions while waiting for specialist appointments and, in some cases, avoid surgery altogether.
“I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to carry on the work done by preceding registrars for over a decade, travelling to Orange every fourth week and providing Sport and Exercise Medicine services,” said Dr Scott Janes, a Sport and Exercise Physician Registrar at the Australasian College of Sport and Exercise Physicians (ACSEP). As part of his Specialist Training Program, he spends time each month consulting in rural Orange, NSW at the Orange Aboriginal Medical Service (OAMS) and Bloomfield Medical Group.
At the Orange Aboriginal Medical Service (OAMS) physical wellness centre Walu-Win (a word pointing to wellness and good health in Wiradjuri), Dr Janes supports the multidisciplinary team which includes GPs, physiotherapists, exercise physiologists, dieticians, and others.
“They drive the patient care in the day-to-day, and I do what I can to contribute more specialised SEM knowledge and skills during my visits.”
At Bloomfield Medical, he works to help relieve the pressure on the other two local sports-interested GPs with a long-time interest in sport medicine, but have multi-week wait times and busy days. This means he’s often seeing acute injuries or last-minute bookings, reflecting the reality of rural life where people may need to take advantage of the rare opportunity of being in town to access health care.
In a region where accessing specialist health care can be challenging, the availability of bulk-billed Sport and Exercise Medicine appointments provides a valuable pathway to expert care. Dr Janes bulk-bills all patients where possible at both services, while there are no out-of-pocket fees at Walu-Win at all – providing the opportunity for patients to access a SEM practitioner, under the mentorship of local GP, Dr Gareth Thomas, and Sydney-based specialists.
While professional sporting organisations in these regions are rare, according to Dr Janes, at a community level the typical patients are honest, conscientious, beautiful people who are very active across sport and physical occupations, such as farming, trades, and mining work.
Dr Janes’ position is well-supported by local orthopaedic surgeons who forward on GP referrals for patients if consultation with a SEM doctor might have a short- or long-term benefit while they are on long waitlists for specialist review. Many patients have been happy to receive timely non-surgical management for conditions such as osteoarthropathy, ligamentous injury, or tendinopathy.
“Patients often have reasonable access to allied health disciplines, but long waitlists or travel times for sports medicine expertise. Athletic aspirations, financial livelihoods, social participation, and overall quality of life are all on the line for these people who require so much from their bodies.”
Sport and Exercise Medicine practitioners are underrepresented in rural and regional areas, but through training and outreach opportunities such as this one, people like Dr Janes are bringing knowledge and skills to help fill the hole between the allied health and surgical options for patients in these settings.
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