From a childhood spent on a sugar cane farm in Sarina to performing complex life-saving breast cancer surgery, it’s been almost 30 years since Dr Adrian Wescott entered Mackay Base Hospital as a newly qualified doctor.
The general surgeon is now entering the next phase of his career after being appointed to the top position of Clinical Director of Surgery leading a team of about 40 doctors.
“I was originally lining up to be a cane farmer and then changed my mind to being an accountant. Then I wanted to be a pathologist, and someone said you had to do medicine to be a pathologist,” Dr Westcott said.
After attending Sarina Primary School and boarding school in Charters Towers, he studied a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Queensland. Soon after starting at Mackay Base Hospital, he found his passion.
“I did two rotations in surgery as an intern – I knew it was for me pretty quickly,” he said. “Surgery is something I can do to fix someone, and people get better as a general rule,” he said.
Doctors complete a further five or six years of training before qualifying as a surgeon.
After three and a half years in Mackay Dr Westcott transferred to the Townsville Hospital for more surgical training and stints in intensive care and neurosurgery.
A year in Brisbane helped develop his skills in cardiothoracic surgery before he commenced a training pathway from 2003-2006 with the Royal Australian College of General Surgery.
He did a Fellowship year at the Brisbane Mater Hospital in breast and endocrine surgery in 2007 before returning to the Base in 2008.
Dr Westcott said the variety of work, his family and the convenience of living in Mackay kept him here.
He said much had changed over time including the number of interns which had increased from four to more than 40.
“When I started there were essentially two full time surgeons, a bunch of visiting medical officers and two interns in the surgical department,” he said.
As the Clinical Director Dr Westcott is responsible for urology, vascular, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, ENT and general surgery.
Dr Westcott said one of his priorities in the new role was to attract more surgeons to Mackay and to increase services.
“Mackay is competing with other areas for doctors, so we need to highlight that our region is an enjoyable place to bring up a family and that there are a lot of career opportunities here.
“We’ve got a raft of young surgeons who have the skills this community needs, so it’s about providing them with the support networks they need and the equipment required to ensure they thrive and continue working here.
“Mackay is becoming stronger and more selfsufficient in what we provide.
“I’m hopeful with my local knowledge we can focus on what we need to do to help the community and provide more surgical services locally.
“This is a five to 10-year plan, we’re playing a long game. And there are certain things you can only change when you are sitting in the chair,” he said.
