Community & Business
14 February, 2024
Oakey welcomes new registrars to Medical Centre
Ochre Medical Centre Oakey will have three new registrars for 2024 with the arrival of three trainee GPs on placement for the year.
The three new faces are Tom Crawley-Smith, Sarah Ahmad and Zoe Grantham.
The three have good impressions from their first week in Oakey and say they are looking forward to getting to know the town.
Tom Crawley-Smith said Oakey is “a good practice with a good mix of patients.”
He’ll be at Oakey five days a week.
Dr Crawley-Smith was born and raised in Toowoomba and is returning to the Region for his second-year of GP training after working at the Royal Brisbane Hospital and the Prince Charles Hospital.
He previously worked at the Toowoomba Base Hospital and attended medical school at Griffith University on the Gold Coast.
Dr Crawley-Smith has three children, enjoys taking photos in his (very) limited leisure time, and plans on visiting the Toowoomba Company of Archers at Charlton once his family has settled in at Toowoomba.
“Toowoomba is a good place for the kids to run around in,” he said.
Dr Sarah Ahmad says she’s enjoying the different challenges working in Oakey and Kingsthorpe brings.
“It’s a small community but there are a lot of different people here with the meatworks in town,” she said.
“I’m trying to learn how rural practice works.
“Being a GP is much more holistic than hospital work.”
Dr Ahmad will be based in Kingsthorpe on Monday and Tuesday, and in Oakey on Wednesday, Thursday and every second Friday
She is also in her second year of GP training, having worked at a practice at Highfields in 2023, and previously at Ipswich Hospital in 2022 and four years in south-west Sydney.
She moved to Australia from her native Bahrain in 2017 for greater opportunities (and a milder climate).
She speaks Arabic and Urdu fluently.
In her spare time, she has been learning to play different sports with her 10-year-old son and since Covid, has enjoyed learning to develop her cooking abilities.
Dr Zoe Grantham said life in the clinic is busy.
“There’s clearly a lot of demand,” she said.
“All the patients have been quite friendly.”
She will be working at Oakey on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, at Kingsthorpe on Thursday and Wyalla on Friday.
She is completing her first year of GP training, having worked at the Toowoomba Base Hospital for two years.
She came to the Darling Downs from Hobart via medical school at James Cook University in Cairns.
“I’ve been all the way up to the top and I’m halfway down again,” she said.
“(Darling Downs) winter is very much like Hobart.”
“Just looking after myself, my partner is an OT (Occupational Therapist).
“He comes out to Oakey occasionally to work with Oakey Beef Exports.
“It’s very funny - at first, I said to him ‘Oakey, where’s that?”
“Now I’m working here.”
Hospital work is very different.
“In the hospital system, you’re working in a team environment with other people - doctors, nurses and Allied Health.
“You can get basically anything on the spot.
“As a GP, there’s less emphasis on (immediate outcomes/quick fixes) and more on follow ups.
“It’s about getting people into a good position, whether it’s physical health or mental health.”
Dr Grantham enjoys hiking and learning to cook new recipes.
In good news for Oakey, 2023 registrar Dr Ben Worrall has decided to stay with the practice.
With a shortage of GPs across most rural areas, it’s hoped that more will follow his lead.
