Tennant Creek Hospital
 Tennant Creek is affectionately known as the
Northern Territory’s ‘heart of gold’ – referring not only to its gold mining heritage but also the warmth and friendliness of its people. The township has a population of 3,500 and is situated 500 kilometres north of Alice Springs and 1,000 kilometres south of Darwin.
Tennant Creek is the main service centre for cattle stations in the surrounding Barkly Tablelands; an area characterised by grassy plains and wide blue skies.
Tennant Creek Hospital offers nurses a unique
opportunity to care for more than 7,000 people in the Barkly region, including 4,000 Aborigines living in six remote communities. Our staff are passionate, hard working and eager to learn. They also share a love of Aboriginal culture and the Australian outback. If that sounds like you, read on to find out more about joining our hospital.
Services and support
Tennant Creek Hospital is a 20-bed hospital providing diagnostic and therapeutic services for both inpatient and outpatients. Our staff work closely with the local general practice, aboriginal health organisation and rural and remote sections of the Barkly Health Service to provide integrated health services to our patients.
The hospital employs five full time medical officers who work in both the hospital and remote areas, along with 23 nurses working at the hospital. A 24 hour Accident and Emergency Department and an Aerial Medical Service are provided. A Renal Dialysis Unit, Community Health Services and a Health Development Unit are located on the hospital campus.
Patient services include:
- Obstetrics and Midwifery
- Emergency Department
- Gynaecology
- Intensive Care/High Dependency Units
- Paediatric inpatient and outpatients
- Renal Dialysis
- Outpatients and Specialist Clinics
- Medical
- Surgical
- Day Procedure Unit
- Operating Theatre
- Respite
- Palliative Care
At our hospital, you’ll find Specialist Medical Officers and Resident Medical Officers in all fields.
Specialist medical services
Visiting specialists service the hospital in the areas of Cardiology, Neurology, Endocrinology, Plastics, Oral Surgery, Pain Relief, Dermatology Rehabilitation, Paediatric Orthopaedic, Urology, Paediatric Surgery and Medical.
A leader in research, teaching and learning
Tennant Creek Hospital is fully accredited by the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards. It is a placement hospital for new graduates from Alice Springs Hospital and placement for medical and nursing students.
Great salary and benefits
In addition to salaries among the highest in Australia, up to seven weeks annual leave and salary sacrificing options, we offer many other attractive conditions and benefits. These include:
- Financial support for relocation
- A comprehensive orientation program that involves Aboriginal cultural awareness
- Rental assistance and 50% subsidised housing for staff living on campus
- Reimbursement for return airfare or overland expenses
- Freight allowance
- FOILS
- Professional development allowance after one year of service
- Post-graduate allowance.
Once you’ve decided to join our team at Tennant Creek Hospital, we’ll do our part to make your move as easy as possible.
Accommodation
Our staff will assist you in finding accommodation that best suits your needs. We also have 24 furnished nurses quarters on site, with fully equipped kitchen and dining areas. Located next to an in-ground pool and tennis court, the units rent for just $110 a fortnight.
Staff training
The hospital’s Workforce Development Unit offers many training and education programs including a clinical placement for new graduate nurses from the new graduate program in Alice Springs Hospital. All nurses have access to a comprehensive in-service Education Program, with courses related to midwifery, orthopaedic nursing, neonatal nursing, paediatrics, critical care and advanced cardiac life support.
About our Town
Centred on the junction of two great highways, the Stuart Highway and the Barkly Highway, the region stretches from the old Telegraph Station at Barrow Creek in the south, to the historical droving township of Newcastle Waters in the north, and
east to the Queensland border. This exciting region is steeped in history and culture.
Our air is clean and fresh, our locals are friendly, our wildlife is fascinating, and our history is full of strange quirks.
Tennant, as locals know it, was the site of Australia’s last gold rush in the 1920s and was at that time the third largest gold producer in Australia. Some gold mining continues in the area today, but the town had its origins in the Overland Telegraph that once linked Melbourne to London. Constructed in the 1870s, the telegraph line forged a corridor through the middle of the continent that the Explorer’s Way and The Ghan train now travel.
Tennant Creek also has a strong Aboriginal heritage and the culture can be seen in the local art and craft galleries. A superb example is Nyinkka Nyunyu – a unique indigenous art and cultural centre where you can learn about Aboriginal life and history of the area.
Around the Barkly Tablelands
The Barkly is a region of vast grassy plains and spectacular rock formations located between Tennant Creek and Katherine. Its plains are home to cattle stations the size of small countries and the long straight roads give a true feeling of the outback and freedom.
An enviable climate
For most of the year our weather ranges from great to fantastic. In the Tennant Creek region you may be lucky to experience the heavy heady perfume of Mulga after rain, but there are more sunny days than just about anywhere else in the Territory. Most of the rain falls during the summer months, with occasional storms at other times of the year.
Average daytime temperatures range from an average maximum of 25º C during June/July to 37º C in December/January, with highs over 40º C. In the winter, temperatures rarely drop below 6º C.
In an average year, Tennant Creek has just 77 cloudy days, and more than 170 days with no cloud cover at all!
Want to know more?
For more information about Tennant Creek visit www.travelnt.com and search under ‘Regions/ Tennant Creek’.
Alternatively, call our nursing recruitment hotline today on 1800 000 648 or email us at nursinginfo.ths@nt.gov.au
Our staff will answer any questions you have about living in Tennant Creek and working at our hospital.
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