AMA NSW Hospital Health Check survey finds Wagga Base the best hospital in NSW

An Australian Medical Association Survey of junior doctors found Wagga Base was the overall most highly regarded hospital to work in.

Resident Medical Officer Association president Tayla Coles said Wagga Base Hospital was a "fantastic place to work".

"I think that's for a number of reasons including very supportive senior medical staff," she said.

Dr Coles, originally from Wagga, said she had been a doctor at the Base Hospital for two years.

"But most importantly our managers and administration are very accommodating and are very happy to listen to our requests," she said.

"Families are very welcome at Wagga Base and I feel like that's something that sets us aside from other hospitals."

In this year's 'Hospital Health Check' survey of 1332 doctors-in-training, Wagga Base was one of just three hospitals to receive overall 'A' ratings.

Wagga Base and Belmont Hospital in the Hunter region of NSW were the first hospitals to achieve an overall 'A' in 2019.

In 2020, Wagga Base scored an 'A' in almost every category including Morale and Culture, Overtime and Rostering, and Education and Training.

It missed out on an A in Wellbeing - which no hospital achieved - by less than one point.

Chris Mumme, an anaesthetist and director of pre-vocational education and training at Wagga Base Hospital, first came to Wagga in 2007 as a student doctor.

"I've been back as a consultant since 2016," he said.

"I grew up in Sydney and I came down to Wagga to have a try, to see what life was like. And I have never looked back.

"My wife and I both came through the University of NSW clinical school."

Dr Coles said she wasn't surprised by Wagga Base's positive AMA Hospital Health Check results.

"I think the fact that we've done it four years in a row shows that is pretty convincing that do perform the best every year in the survey," she said.

"I had a meeting just last night with some other presidents of [Resident Medical Officer Associations] and some of the issues they encounter really highlight how great we have it here in Wagga."

Dr Coles believes Wagga Base Hospital's reputation means it attracts "some of the best medical students".

The team praised staff, including acting medical admin manager Baha Mosa and acting JMO manager Sophie Watt, for supporting the hospital's junior doctors.

"[The junior medical officers] are also very resilient, flexible and adaptable," Dr Mumme said.

"And with all the changes that have happened this year have meant that our JMOs have really stepped up."