This week the Katherine Times caught up with Dr Richard Budd a specialist physician in general medicine from Scotland. 

Having moved over almost two years ago, Dr Budd was working as a consultant when he decided to leave the cold, erratic UK weather. 

Looking at various places around the world, he came across an advertisement in the British Medical Journal for a position working in rural remote Australia - Katherine. 

Enticed by anecdotes of sun-soaked weekends outdoors and medicine like nowhere else in the world, he was easily convinced. 

The first time the young doctor stepped foot in Australia was to have a quick look at the hospital here. The short visit was promptly followed by packing up house and booking a one-way ticket to the Territory. 

Swapping rain and snow for the red dirt so typical of the Top End, Dr Budd said he had found his time here both challenging and rewarding. 

“There are a lot of issues around tropical diseases, a lot of issues around diseases that don't really exist in the UK anymore. These were all things I had read about in text books and heard about, but never seen myself. So the actual work here is incredibly interesting. 

“If you add to it the context of a rural remote setting, difficult to access health care and really small communities, that adds a degree of complexity.”

Like many others have found, working in the Territory has presented endless opportunities. 

The word ‘no’ is spoken much less often here. 

Finding challenges with people not attending out-patient appointments, Dr Budd and a colleague set up Specialist Outreach. 

“With patients in really remote settings, there is a lot of weight put on seeing the same people and forming a relationship so that there can be trust and a bit more of a therapeutic relationship going on,” he said. 

“By doing outreach, that has really improved and it means people recognise me, they feel safer when they get sick to come into hospital to get treatment and I think it has helped to get people more engaged with our service. 

“It is all good and well me coming and telling people about making changes to do with taking medications and their lifestyles, but if they don’t know me or don’t know where I've come from, it can be a bit difficult to make that connection. 

“There is a feeling that if you have a good idea and you want to change something it is generally supported, whereas I think back home (the UK) trying to instigate change in the health service is pretty difficult, just because it is big and complicated.

“Here, I really feel like you can make changes.”

The hospital is now looking at ways in which to increase the capacity of services in other departments, Dr Budd said. 

So what does a typical day look like for the doctor? 

He said: “My working day is really varied, I spend about two-thirds of my time working in the hospital itself and the rest of the time I’m going out to all these amazing communities. 

“My day is filled with amazing people and really interesting medicine.”