More than 1,000 interns will begin working in the NSW Health system today - a record number of new starters and the most of any state or territory in Australia.

“These junior medical officers join NSW Health at a remarkable time in our history,” Richard Griffiths, Acting Deputy Secretary, NSW Health said.

“They come to us in the middle of an unprecedented, world-wide pandemic and have the unique opportunity to play a vital role in in our extraordinary health system.”

This year, NSW has a record number of 1,041 intern positions, an increase of 35 per cent since 2011.

Of these positions, 150 belong to the Rural Preferential Recruitment scheme, in which interns undertake the majority of their training in rural hospitals. This has doubled in number since 2012. This innovative scheme was designed to encourage interns to work in rural hospitals once they finished their medical school training.

The new doctors starting their internship today will be entering a training program with networked hospitals throughout the state, providing formal and on the job training.

They receive two-year contracts to rotate between metropolitan, regional and rural hospitals to ensure the diversity of their experience. They also join different units in each hospital, including surgery and emergency medicine.

Interns are medical graduates who have completed their medical degree and are required to complete a supervised year of practice in order to become independent practitioners.

For more information about the recruitment of Junior Medical Officers, visit Junior Medical Officer recruitment.