Essential Disability Friendly Business Basics Training is now available for small to medium-sized businesses in Queensland  

Critical Skin Cancer Education Scholarships now available for Queensland GP’s

16 May 2025

Today at the Australasian Skin Cancer Congress held on the Gold Coast, the Queensland Deputy Premier, Hon Jarrod Bleijie, attending alongside his mum Christine, a melanoma survivor, announced a new lifesaving initiative which will support 12 General Practitioners based in regional Queensland to access world-leading education to help them better detect and treat the potentially deadly disease.

Queensland has the highest rate of both melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers, making it the skin cancer capital of the world.

The initiative, which will be delivered and jointly funded by Skin Cancer College Australasia and Queensland Health through CheckUP’s Skin Cancer Early Detection (SCED) program, aims to upskill GPs based in rural, regional, and remote locations where such services are limited or non-existent.

Deputy Premier Bleijie said skin cancer impacted thousands of Queensland families, including his own.

“We were all shocked when my Mum was diagnosed with melanoma in 1993,” he said.

“It started as a small, itchy mole on her back, which was removed. However, the melanoma sadly returned 13 years later as a stage 3 diagnosis. Her treatment required more surgery and the only further option at the time was to join a clinical trial to try and stop the spread of the deadly disease. We know thousands of Queenslanders have a similar story and as a Government, we are committed to improving the early detection and treatment of skin cancer for more families, just like mine.”

Christine Bleijie survived and has subsequently dedicated her life to support other people facing a diagnosis of melanoma across Australia by volunteering with Melanoma Patients Australia.

Victoria Beedle, CEO of Skin Cancer College Australasia said, “We congratulate and thank the Queensland Government for supporting this initiative. Providing high quality education on the
detection and treatment of skin cancer to our general practitioners in rural and regional areas could not be more important as they are often the only medical professional that patients can access, and we know that an accurate diagnosis can be a matter of life or death.”

CheckUP’s CEO, Ann Maree Liddy said: “The Skin Cancer Early Detection Program is focused on creating fairer access to professional assessment and treatment of skin cancer for Queenslanders most in need and our new joint initiative will mean more doctors have access to high quality education they need to accurately diagnose and treat skin cancers early.”

Since the SCED program commenced in mid-2023, 1,957 Queenslanders living in rural and remote communities have accessed a skin cancer early detection clinic and had their skin checked. Of these patients, 563 received treatment for suspected skin cancers with 67% of these patients having histologically proven cancers detected.

The Skin Cancer Early Detection Program is proudly supported by the Queensland Government.

Submit your scholarship application today!

To find out more about the available scholarships for General Practitioners and how to access them visit Critical Skin Cancer Education Scholarships now available  or email education@skincancercollege.org

Learn more

About Skin Cancer College Australasia

The Skin Cancer College Australasia provides a strong and collective voice to skin cancer medicine practitioners across Australia and New Zealand. We lead education excellence in the Trans-Tasman region. We aim to ensure high quality, equitable access to the diagnosis, treatment and ongoing management of skin cancer to patients and communities across Australia and New Zealand.

About CheckUP

CheckUP is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of people and communities in need, especially those in rural, regional, and remote areas. We are committed to advancing equity in healthcare by strategically collaborating at both regional and local levels, ensuring that health and community services are more accessible and responsive to people who need them most.

Critical Skin Cancer Education Scholarships

Skin Cancer College Australasia has partnered with CheckUP and the Queensland Government to help more Queenslanders access skin cancer early detection services.

If you are a General Practioner (GP)* committed to making a positive impact and supporting Queenslanders in early skin cancer detection and treatment, apply today.

Why submit your application?

This new initiative will support 12 GPs based in regional Queensland to access world-leading education to help them better detect and treat the potentially deadly disease.

Who can apply?

*These scholarships are for GPs practicing in the following HHS regions: Mackay, Townsville, North West, South West, Central Queensland and Central West.

What will the scholarship include?

Introduction to Skin Cancer course (6.5 CPD hours) and Certificate of Dermoscopy (27 CPD hours).

Who will deliver and fund the training?

The initiative, which will be delivered and jointly funded by Skin Cancer College Australasia and the Queensland Government through CheckUP’s Skin Cancer Early Detection (SCED) program, aims to upskill GPs based in rural, regional, and remote locations where such services are limited or non-existent.

The Skin Cancer Early Detection Program is proudly supported by the Queensland Government.

How will this training support Queenslanders?

Queensland has the highest rate of both melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers, making it the skin cancer capital of the world. Since the SCED program commenced in mid-2023, 1,957 Queenslanders living in rural and remote communities have accessed a skin cancer early detection clinic and had their skin checked. Of these patients, 563 received treatment for suspected skin cancers with 67% of these patients having histologically proven cancers detected. Through this training, more Queenslanders will be able to access vital skin cancer checks, early detection, and treatment.

Scholarship Launch

Read about the Skin Cancer Education Scholarships launch held at the Australasian Skin Cancer Congress on the Gold Coast. Queensland Deputy Premier, Hon Jarrod Bleijie, attended alongside his mum Christine, a melanoma survivor, and announced the initiative.

Update: The scholarship application period has now closed. Thank you for your interest.

About Skin Cancer College Australasia

The Skin Cancer College Australasia (SCCA) provides a strong and collective voice to skin cancer medicine practitioners across Australia and New Zealand. They lead education excellence in the Trans-Tasman region and aim to ensure high quality, equitable access to the diagnosis, treatment and ongoing management of skin cancer to patients and communities across Australia and New Zealand.

About CheckUP

CheckUP is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of people and communities in need, especially those in rural, regional, and remote areas. We are committed to advancing equity in healthcare by strategically collaborating at both regional and local levels, ensuring that health and community services are more accessible and responsive to people who need them most.

Images: The images below show patients undergoing skin checks.

CheckUP proudly acknowledges Angel Flight’s Rural Medi-Flight Service for making healthcare accessible to remote communities and beyond.

Over the past three years, Angel Flight has seen a significant increase in demand for transporting health professionals to rural and remote communities across Australia. In response, Angel Flight launched its Rural Medi-Flight service in early 2024—an innovative approach that flips the traditional model of flying rural patients into the city by instead flying doctors, allied health professionals, and medical students directly into rural and remote communities.

The Rural Medi-Flight service aims to address the urgent healthcare gap in rural Australia while providing busy health professionals with safe, cost-efficient, and reliable air transport to hard-to-reach communities. The service is designed to bring healthcare directly to the bush, minimising travel disruptions for medical practitioners and allowing them to spend more time with patients and less time in transit.

A professional and reliable service

The dedicated air service operates to the highest standards, under the Air Transport Category, and is flown by highly experienced airline pilots with Instructor and Check and Training Captain status. Angel Flight’s health professional passengers have consistently praised the professionalism and efficiency of the service, noting that the direct flights save them valuable time, allowing for more patient care and less travel stress.

One medical professional shared, “Being able to fly directly to the community without lengthy travel connections means I can dedicate more time to my patients. The professionalism of Angel Flight’s service makes the entire journey seamless and stress-free.”

The aircraft used for Rural Medi-Flights is a comfortable 8-10 seat, cabin-class, twin-engine plane affectionately named Kayla—a tribute to an Angel Flight passenger who flew 400 missions before sadly losing her health battle at the age of 23. Kayla’s size and versatility enables it to land at all country town airfields, making it perfect for reaching remote areas.

Making an impact across Queensland

Since its launch, the Rural Medi-Flight service has flown specialists, allied health professionals, and medical students to 22 communities and counting, from Birdsville to Blackall, Monto to Mornington, the service has become an invaluable lifeline for rural areas that previously faced long waiting times or extensive travel to access medical care.

Image: “Kayla” the aircraft used for Rural Medi-Flights at dusk.

A vision for national expansion

With the success of the Queensland-based service, Angel Flight is planning to expand the Rural Medi-Flight model into a national operation, with dedicated aircraft based in each capital city as well as key regional hubs like Cairns and Port Hedland. However, this ambitious vision will only be possible with government or significant private funding.

Until then, Angel Flight remains committed to sustaining its current operations, ensuring that doctors can continue reaching the communities that need care the most.

Images above: QPHCN event attendees are pictured as a group (left), and CheckUP and Country to Coast team members are shown standing and networking.

CheckUP Workforce and Industry Programs
• Health Industry Skills and Jobs Advisor (ISJA)
• Health Industry Workforce Advisor (IWA)
• Community Services Industry Workforce Advisor (IWA)
• First Nations Health Care and Social Assistance Industry Workforce Advisor (IWA)
• CheckUP Connect – NDIS Business Connect
• Health Gateway to Industry Schools project
• Micro-credentialling program – Going all OUT for Outreach
• Micro-credentialling program – Disability Friendly Business
Basics

World Hearing Day is held on 3 March each year to raise awareness of how to prevent deafness and hearing loss and promote ear and hearing care across the world.

CheckUP manage the Healthy Ears: Better Hearing Better Listening (Healthy Ears) program. Providing services in urban, rural, regional, remote and very remote communities across Queensland, the Healthy Ears program aims to increase access to ear and hearing health services for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management of hearing health conditions in First Nations children and youth.

Otitis media (inflammation and/or infection of the middle ear) is the main condition contributing towards hearing loss in First Nations children. Experiencing hearing loss in childhood can affect speech and language development, and may lead to behavioural problems, early school leaving, limited employment options and increased contact with the criminal justice system (Burns and Thomson 2013).

Health promotion and regular routine ear and hearing health checks are integral for preventable hearing loss. Care for Kids’ Ears offers information and resources about ear health for parents, carers, teachers, teachers’ aides, early childhood workers and health professionals. The resources aim to help reduce rates of otitis media among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. These are free and available to order now on the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation’s website.

Left image: Michaela Pacini TCHHS Maternal Child and Family Nurse with patient. Right image: Kirsten Tregenza TCHHS Audiologist with patient.

Through the Healthy Ears program, CheckUP support the Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service’s (TCHHS) Ear and Hearing Health multi-disciplinary team to facilitate children’s ear checks across rural and remote Cape communities.

Recently TCHHS’s Maternal Child and Family Nurse Michaela Pacini was joined by Audiologist Kris Tregenza, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioner Maria Smith and Pormpuraaw Health Worker Carolyn Brian at Pormpuraaw State School to perform ear health checks for all the children.

87% of children currently enrolled at Pormpuraaw State School and in community were screened over two and a half days. The children were excited to have their ears checked, with the team using the video otoscopy which is an examination which allows the kids to see live footage of the inside of their ear canals, followed by the tympanometry and audiometry ‘listening game’ equipment making the ear check fun and engaging.

It was a great outcome as no active ear infections were identified and just over a handful of kids need new Audiologist referrals.

Healthy Ears is managed by CheckUP and is supported by funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care under the Indigenous Australians’ Health Programme.

Left image: Maria Smith TCHHS Health practitioner with patient. Right image: Kirsten Tregenza TCHHS Audiologist with patient.

BlueCare, a prominent provider of in-home care and aged care services in Queensland, have been navigating the challenges of workforce attraction in a competitive labour market.

With a team of around 8,500 employees and 500 volunteers, BlueCare recognises the need for a consistent influx of skilled personal care workers, especially as demand for services continues to rise.

To address workforce shortages and retention issues, BlueCare have adopted a “Grow Our Own” strategy, including forming partnerships with selected Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) to enhance training and placement opportunities for students.

However, while RTO partners provide access to a pool of students, challenges remain. Many students are not located in the areas where the organisation has immediate workforce needs. Additionally, placements do not always align with students career aspirations, resulting in lower conversion rates from placement to employment.

To tackle these issues, BlueCare has implemented several practical solutions. Including:

BlueCare have increased their educational partnerships from three to seven, ensuring better alignment with staffing needs. A placement request template has been introduced to gauge student availability and interest, while a workforce attraction flyer has been created to help students find job openings and submit inquiries.

Furthermore, the organisation has developed a strategy that enables personal care students to be hired as supervised (unqualified) personal carers prior to or during their placements, allowing them to gain valuable experience and receive paid shifts.

Existing employees also have opportunities to undertake paid training and participate in practical placements to upskill and advance their careers.

On top of these initiatives, BlueCare has seen success in its traineeship program, with over 433 traineeships initiated since February 2022 and a retention rate of 71%.

By continuing to foster a supportive learning environment, BlueCare aims to strengthen its workforce and ensure that qualified personal care workers are available to meet the needs of the community.

CheckUP is excited to report that patient feedback survey responses are starting to flow in and a number of providers have already received their first personalised feedback reports.

The state-wide results from over 250 responses between July and December 2024 have been extremely positive and the first weeks of January have seen another 50 arrive.

We would love to be able to provide you all with your own feedback directly from your patients and increase your value-based healthcare capabilities. We are aiming for one thousand responses state wide for 2024-2025 with as much patient and provider representation as possible, so please get involved in this important quality improvement activity.

State-wide results for July-December 2024:

Experience of care:

Outcomes of care:

A variety of survey formats (paper and digital) have been developed to suit individual patient preferences. Information and resources were mailed out to providers in late 2024 in an evaluation pack.

If your patients are comfortable with online entry, ask your Regional Coordinator for a loan of their CheckUP feedback iPad or hand out the A4 posters or small business cards with the QR code included in your evaluation packs sent out late last year. Otherwise select from the range of paper surveys you were sent and contact your Regional Coordinator when you need refills.

CheckUP contracts 20 podiatry providers to deliver Outreach services to 65 unique locations across the state.

CheckUP funded podiatrists play a critical role in managing lower limb issues and chronic disease management in high need communities. They also provide upskilling to local health professionals to manage issues between podiatry visits and engage with patients to better understand and manage their chronic conditions.

Accessibility of services closer to home and health outcomes are two main priorities in managing and delivering Outreach programs. Across the 733 podiatry visits delivered to date, providers have reported positive outcomes including:

It was particularly lovely to read the comments in a recent report from Andrew Khoury who provides a popular podiatry service to Kilkivan; ‘This has been a very successful year professionally and regionally. We will endeavour to provide the same competent level of care in 2025. Thank you, CheckUP, for your ongoing support during this year. Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas season’. We certainly appreciate your ongoing commitment to Outreach, along with all our providers.

Outreach services are designed and delivered considering the quadruple aims of improved:

• health outcomes
• patient experiences
• provider experiences
• effectiveness and efficiency

We understand that delivering Outreach services can be challenging and you need to manage your own wellbeing and avoid burnout.

If you missed the webinar on Strengthening Staff Wellbeing In The Health Sector with Dr Liz Crowe, you can access it here.

The Australian Podiatry Association’s latest issue of Stride also has a personal perspective article on Burnout in podiatry and working to mitigate the risk of burnout.

A CheckUP provider is pictured with a patient above.