Doctors demand $6000 a week to work

LOCUM doctors are demanding up to an astronomical $6000 a week or more to staff the rooms of country GPs like those of Emerald's Dr Ewen McPhee.

By Di Stanley

LOCUM doctors are demanding up to an astronomical $6000 a week or more to staff the rooms of country GPs like those of Emerald's Dr Ewen McPhee.

The mobile medicos are taking advantage of market forces and a statewide skills shortage to use the upper hand in negotiating the rates.

And, far from pricing themselves out of the market, they have become a luxury must-have item as rural practices struggle to service ever-growing populations.

Originally published as Doctors demand $6000 a week to work