Brad Hazzard slams ‘barbed wire fence’ blocking foreign doctors from easing GP crisis

Health Minister Brad Hazzard says overseas-trained doctors are a “potential gold mine” for fixing the GP crisis – and readers agree – but a “barbed wire fence” has been erected to stop them. Vote in our poll.

Foreign trained doctors caught up in red tape are the “potential gold mine” that could help solve the nation’s crippling GP shortage, Health Minister Brad Hazzard has declared.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal NSW is pushing for Canberra to work with the state to remove a “barbed wire fence” of red tape strangling overseas-trained in a bid to bolster the health system.

Mr Hazzard said the hurdles overseas-trained graduates face has forced hundreds of doctors to quit the industry and work in occupations like taxi driving while the national GP shortage risks creating a healthcare “apocalypse”.

“This should be ringing alarm bells in the offices of the Federal Health Department and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP),” he said.

Mr Hazzard has asked his department to do “whatever the state can” to make it easier for overseas-trained doctors to work in NSW.

The Daily Telegraph’s readers, meanwhile, have narrowly sided with Mr Hazzard, calling for overseas-trained doctors to be given the green light.

Up to 56 per cent of readers believe international doctors should be used to reduce the shortage crippling the NSW health system.

Despite a majority of readers supporting the idea many still called for caution.

“The term removing red tape basically means lowering the standards which means putting peoples heath at risk,” one reader wrote.

“The health profession is one where standards should be getting higher and higher, not lower.”

Extra requirements were imposed on foreign-trained doctors looking to practice here after

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard says overseas-trained doctors could help provide a solution to the crisis. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

Indian-trained surgeon Jayant Patel was accused of gross negligence linked to 20 deaths while working at a Queensland hospital. Patel was ultimately convicted of fraud and banned from practising medicine in Australia.

The Health Minister said his push to streamline the application process is designed to get highly trained GP working in Australia faster, not let dodgy doctors practice here.

“This is not about cutting standards, it’s about cutting the red tape stopping qualified doctors working in Australia,” he said.

“Let’s welcome overseas graduates and, if they are not up to speed, let’s help them get there,” he told the Telegraph.

Jayant Patel was convicted of fraud and banned from practising in Australia. Picture: Steve Pohlner

“An apocalypse is fast approaching.”

Mr Hazzard called on the federal government and the RACGP to work together to remove barriers that had been “inadvertently” placed in the way of foreign doctors getting accreditation to work here.

International graduates must get their qualifications verified, pass examinations, and complete a Pre-employment Structured Clinical Interview (PESCI) to practice in Australia.

Doctors said the lack of interview places offered each year leads to overseas-trained graduates giving up.

The Telegraph understands that in 2020/21, only 25-30 per cent of applicants passed the RACGP PESCI, down from 48 per cent in 2019.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is also looking to the federal government to help solve the crisis by cutting red tape. Picture: NCA Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

It is thought that the declining pass rate is due to a limited number of new arrivals from overseas during the start of the Covid pandemic, and more people sitting second interviews after initially failing.A major workforce study by Deloitte this year found that Australia will experience a shortfall of almost 11,400 GPs by 2032.

Demand for GP services in the country’s cities will increase by almost 40 per cent, but the supply of doctors to do that work will fall by four per cent – and 15 per cent in the cities, the report found.

The Telegraph spoke to multiple international medical graduates who were forced to navigate restrictions and red tape to practice in Australia.

They said the process is long and confusing, and has led to other foreign-trained doctors giving up.

Internationally trained Doctor Alam Yoosuff at his Finley NSW clinic. “The perfect is killing the good” he says. Picture: Brad Newman

Dr Alam Yoosuff, a foreign-trained GP now working in Finley in the NSW Riverina, said that bureaucrats do not have the “urgency” required to tackle the doctor shortage.

“I’ve never seen anyone finish their paperwork in under 12 months,” he said.

He said international graduates increasingly look to work in the UK because the process is easier.

“The perfect is killing the good,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) said applications “usually take six to eight weeks to finalise”.

Premier Dominic Perrottet said the GP shortage is putting extra stress on emergency departments, contributing to clogged hospitals and extra delays.

The GP shortage crisis is hitting regional communities hardest of all. Picture: Brad Newman

“Pressure needs to be taken off emergency departments so they can focus on critical care and saving lives,” he said.

“The Federal Government should be doing everything possible to boost GPs numbers and every option should be on the table.”

In a statement, federal Health Minister Mark Butler said the regulator is working to remove red tape at the request of national cabinet.

“AHPRA is already actioning key actions from an internal review to reduce bureaucratic red tape and timelines for registration of international health workers,” he said.

“Just as every new Labor Government has always had to do – we’ll clean up the mess left by the Liberal Party.”

RACGP Rural Chair Michael Clements said that standards for overseas-trained doctors should not be cut, but that more should be done to help them work here.

“We certainly reject the assertion that there should be less standards or less expectation on the quality of the doctors, but absolutely support the idea that we could do more to support them in meeting those standards,” he said.