The new appointments include Dr David Morris, who joined Portland District Health (PDH) on July 2 as the city’s new obstetrician and gynaecologist.

His appointment creates more opportunities for women to have their babies in Portland.

Dr Morris is a Fellow of the Australian College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. 

He completed his specialised training in England, where he also earned a doctorate in the immunology of ovarian cancer. 

He was the consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Horsham for eight years until 2007, before leaving to care for his ailing mother.

Since returning to the workforce in 2008 he has worked for clinics doing day gynaecology, day surgery at the Bendigo hospital and locum work.

Dr Morris joins doctors Ghazala Irshad and Fariha Irshad and experienced midwives in the expanded PDH maternity team.

Services at Active Health Portland, a GP Super Clinic opened in 2012, have also been boosted with the appointment of GP registrar Debbie Carrington.

Dr Carrington is working part-time at Active Health Portland and aims to stay on long-term.

She has moved to Portland with her husband, Reverend Emmanuel Carrington, who was recently appointed to a ministry in Portland.

Dr Carrington graduated with her medical degree from Melbourne University in 2008 and did her internship at Eastern Health. 

The third win for Portland’s health services was Portland District Health’s  rating as the nation’s cleanest hospital.

An external audit by a qualified Victorian cleaning standards auditor was unable to fault PDH’s cleanliness.

It is understood to be the first time a health service has recorded a 100 per cent score.

PDH corporate services director Ros Jones said the result was a credit to PDH’s dedicated and hard-working environmental services team.