Foreign GP rush is down to our own short-sightedness
The fact there are more foreign-trained GPs working in Australia than locally trained GPs is the inevitable result of poor planning by successive governments, writes Sue Dunlevy.
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Medicine is the highest paid profession in Australia and you have to be in the top ten per cent of students to get a university training place, yet we’re importing 2000 foreign trained doctors a year to keep our medical system afloat.
The startling statistic that there are now more full time equivalent overseas trained GPs than Australian trained doctors has highlighted extremely poor planning by successive governments for our health workforce needs.
That poor planning continues today.
It seems totally bizarre that hundreds of foreign students who funded their own medical studies at Australian universities and who understand our health system will this year be denied an internship to complete their qualification and work here.
These students will be sent home while at the same time we will import 2000 doctors trained in overseas universities who have no knowledge of our local health system.
Another quick fix would be to allow doctors who wish to train as GPs to immediately start that training once they graduate from university. They could carry out their internship year in general practice rather than in a hospital.
It’s also time for a massive funding investment into general practice.
We now have more specialists than general practitioners which is a ridiculous way to run a health system.
Instead of having the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff treating people when they have fallen over, we should have a barrier at the top catching them beforehand.
The government’s latest general practice workforce statistics show why there are more specialists. GP earnings have actually started to go backwards after Medicare rebates were frozen for four years.
The financial pinch affecting general practice can be seen in the financial difficulties being experienced by the large corporate medical practices.
Competitive pressure means more than 8 in 10 GP services are bulk billed with doctors accepting a paltry $37.55 for each service. Plumbers, physiotherapists and dentists all earn more than many GPs in an hour.
It’s no wonder medical graduates are now opting for higher paying careers as specialists.
Instead of paying GPs a fee for service the payment system needs to be revamped so they can spend more time with patients and get paid to deliver health outcomes rather than encouraged to see patients as many times as possible for as little time as possible.
Sue Dunlevy is the New Corp National Health Reporter.