SA Health offering up to $750,000pa for GP willing to work in country SA

SA Health is prepared to pay up to $750,000 a year for the right experienced GP to work in one rural district – which may see other towns short on doctors asking “why not us?”

SA Health is offering up to $750,000 a year for an experienced GP to work in the Lameroo-Pinnaroo district, or around three times the average income of a typical medical professional.

And patients in the area, which is a couple of hundred kilometres east of Adelaide face paying gap fees that the government-owned clinic will pocket.

The move comes amid a growing crisis of shortages of GPs across rural areas, forcing SA Health to employ locums at up to $3000 per shift to work at hospitals that once relied on local GPs.

Unlike a GP running their own practice, the successful applicant will have no overheads such as staff costs, rent, power and medical equipment.

The remuneration range is listed as $475,763 to $752,224 per annum and also offers employer superannuation contributions, salary sacrifice and leave loading, with preference given to Indigenous applicants.

Australian Taxation Office data lists “other medical professionals” as number six on its top 10 list of occupations with an average taxable income of $232,903 in 2019-20, behind surgeons, anaesthetists, internal medicine specialists, financial dealers and psychiatrists.

The successful applicant will provide inpatient, outpatient and general practice services to Mallee Medical Practice, Lameroo and Pinnaroo Health Services and supervise trainees and GP registrars.

SA Health is not advertising similar positions in other rural regions with doctor shortages.

Royal Australian College of GPs SA & NT chair Dr Daniel Byrne said the move is “the only option due to the market failure of relying on Medicare and bulk billing in a small rural town setting.”

“A qualified rural generalist who can do the general practice and hospital work would need 12 years of training plus several years of experience,” Dr Byrne said.

“The RACGP welcomes the salary package required to attract a qualified rural generalist who will provide safe long-term care and build up a relationship with the local community.”

Royal Australian College of GPs SA and NT chair Dr Daniel Byrne. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

Greater Fleurieu Medical Clinic recently closed, citing an inability to attract overseas trained doctors.

The Riverland Mallee Coorong Local Health Network (RMCLHN) stated the position became available following the departure of a GP who worked in the area for many years.

“We have already employed a part-time GP to partially fill the gap left by the departing GP and we look forward to attracting an additional GP to our region to increase the services available in the Southern Mallee district,” a statement says.

“The successful candidate can choose to be an employee on a salary, or work as a contractor and earn Medicare income and charge a gap.

“While this is the first example in the region where a salaried GP may be placed in a general practice service, SA Health employs GPs in other locations including some medical staff at Riverland General Hospital.”

The Mallee Medical Practice is owned and operated by RMCLHN. It bills Medicare and currently charges a gap.

The offer comes as a storm of factors threaten general practice, with just 15 per cent of medical graduates indicating they want to pursue it as a career. Factors include:

MEDICARE rebates not keeping pace with inflation, leaving GPs struggling with costs unless they charge gap fees;

A LOOMING wave of baby boomer GP retirements as SA fails to attracting enough applicants to fill training places;

FEDERAL government changes which now make suburbs like Golden Grove priority areas for overseas trained doctors to work off their bond, rather than just rural and remote areas.

Last month the Greater Fleurieu Medical Centre at Yankalilla closed citing an inability to attract overseas trained doctors, while Christies Beach Medical Centre dumped bulk billing including for pensioners.