the 07/18/2008

Cash lures GPs to QLD bush

More doctors are working in rural South-East Queensland than in anyother remote region in Australia, new figures reveal.

A recent survey conducted on behalf of Australia's Rural WorkforceAgencies found more than 1080 general practitioners were working inrural Queensland in December last year, compared with just 967 inregional Victoria and 562 in Western Australia.

Rural Health Workforce Australia CEO Dr Kim Webber said theincreased number of doctors in the bush was largely the result offinancial incentives and a successful recruitment campaign designedto lure foreign medical graduates.

"(We) have been able to successfully recruit international doctorsat a time when there is intense recruitment competition of doctorsfrom other countries such as Canada and the USA," Dr Webber said.

Under Queensland's Overseas Trained Doctor Scheme, governmentrelocation grants worth up to $20,000 are offered to internationalmedical graduates moving to the bush to assist with travelexpenses.

The assistance scheme also offers support to overseas traineddoctors sitting Australian Medical Council or Fellowship exams.

"Over the past ten years, the number of international medicalgraduates working in rural and remote Australia has more thandoubled. They are an invaluable part of our workforce," Dr Webbersaid.

Although the number of GPs working in the bush increased by 3.2 percent nationally, more registrars - medical graduates in their firstyears of practice - took residencies in rural Queensland than inregional New South Wales and Victoria.

Australian-trained registrars accounted for 140 medical positionsin rural Queensland, compared with 129 in regional New South Walesand 126 in Victoria.

The figures contradicted claims a reliance on foreign doctors incountry Queensland would have a significant impact on the trainingof Australian medical graduates.

General practitioner Dr Chris Pickett said unlikeAustralian-trained doctors, those educated overseas often did nothave supervisory qualifications from the Royal Australian Collegeof General Practitioners to enable them to train future GPs.

"You need to be a fellow of the college to provide that supervisionand the majority of overseas-trained doctors...have not got theirfellowship," Dr Pickett said.

"We try to the extent we can to provide training support for them,education support for them, but because they're so busy in generalpractice the required time to devote to study is often not there."

However, Queensland General Practice chairman John Kastrissios saidthe state could not afford to rely on Australian-trained doctors,due to a national shortage of GPs.

"The expansion of medical schools and undergraduate places inAustralia by the previous Federal Government is intended to makeAustralia more self-reliant, but there is at least five to tenyears until these graduates move into the workforce," DrKastrissios said.

"In the meantime it is necessary to fill the demand for ruralmedical services, which has effectively been done to date inQueensland through the recruitment of overseas trainedpractitioners."

Dr Kastrissios said a reduction in the number of clinical hoursworked by GPs, also made the recruitment of overseas traineddoctors necessary.

The number of average clinical hours worked per week by GPsdeclined from 36.7 hours in November 2006, to 36 hours in 2007.Furthermore, more than 21 per cent of GPs in Queensland only workedpart-time.

"New, tougher national assessment guidelines introduced this monthfor some overseas doctors will ensure that Queenslanders receivequality medical care," Dr Kastrissios said.