Tyler Redway
REGIONS are fearing further delays for additional GPs after an announcement was made by the Federal Government which changed the Distribution Priority Areas to now include metropolitan suburbs.
This means some regional GPs will now have the option to be transferred to metropolitan areas such as Adelaide at the same level of priority as remote areas with shortages.
Rural Doctor’s Association (RDA) CEO Peta Rutherford said one of the biggest challenges in trying to obtain rural and remote GPs is the culture of pushing subspecialty medicine and the current remuneration package for regional areas.
“At the moment, what we are seeing is that for GPs, their remuneration package in comparison to other doctors is probably at the lower end of the scale,” Ms Rutherford said.
“That’s not to say they’re not going to earn a comfortable living, they will do that but when you have a young doctor making choices about which career direction they want to go, they’re certainly looking at things like parental leave entitlements and a whole range of other elements to the package; it’s not just about the money.”
Under the previous Coalition Government, overseas-trained doctors were required, and often forced, to work in remote-rural areas due to their intense needs before being allowed to transfer anywhere else.
Ms Rutherford said general practice tends to “sit to one side” due to how all other medical specialists are trained within the hospital system, which means a more generous and supportive arrangement for parental and professional development leave.
Ms Rutherford added GP trainees often have the same entitlements unpaid and that there was already an effect from the decision starting to show in regional areas.
“We have had over 25 practices contact us since the announcement was made,” she said.
“We are already seeing a drain of doctors from rural practices into larger regional centres or even metropolitan areas and if they haven’t already moved, then they have certainly flagged it with the intention to.”
Ms Rutherford said it was likely that most regional doctors would relocate back to larger regional or metropolitan areas towards the end of the year and school term.
She mentioned the RDA had not been overly supportive of the Coalition’s policy to force doctors to work in rural areas, but it was unfortunately one the communities have had to rely on.
“Even if your local general practice isn’t impacted, the next town on will likely be, which will then result in patients looking for a GP,” she said.
“This may then impact either the local emergency department or general practice as they try to accommodate those patients and provide care and wait time for a GP appointment would then become longer.”
Ms Rutherford said the State and Commonwealth Governments now had the opportunity to “take what has happened, reset the policies and incentives they provide and really do some innovative modelling”.
“We have put to the Commonwealth Government how they need to expand their single employer option not just for registrars but also senior doctors,” she said.
“With those entitlements such as parental and sick leave, the rural GPs will be on an equivalent remuneration arrangement as other medical specialty registrars.”
She mentioned that South Australia has had a significant lack of rural placements in the last five to six years and it would be another tough few years for the state while opportunities were being considered.
“[This is] particularly with the training numbers based on the last couple of years and the intake which South Australia has had,” she said.
“We still have a bit of work to do, but there is an opportunity for the Governments to really look at what they’re doing and put the arrangements in place to make it an attractive place to work.”
