NT doctor shortage expected to worsen as priority areas are expanded

A policy change will now force the NT to fight harder to recruit doctors. SEE WHY.

POTENTIAL new doctors could be drawn away from the Territory following a major change in policy, a rural health expert has said.

As of July 21, practices on the outskirts of the major cities will now be able to access a tool initially designed to boost general practitioner numbers in rural and remote Australia.

Before the policy change, only the Northern Territory along with areas considered as rural towns and remote and very remote communities were able to recruit from a broader pool of doctors, including international medical students and those in bonded medical programs.

RACGP rural chair Dr Michael Clements said the change would have a detrimental impact on practices across the NT.

“Up until now (the prospective doctors) have only been able to choose the Northern Territory and rural and remote places that need them,” he said.

“The expansion means areas that surround Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne are now considered by the federal government as the same priority as the NT.”

Dr Clements said the option to work near major cities would mean less people would choose to work in the harder to fill locations, such as across the Territory.

“What this change has done has created an immediate magnet to draw people closer to cities,” he said.

“It’s not fair to say that (the areas of expansion) have had the same troubles that Tennant Creek or Katherine or Alice Springs have had but now a town on the coast of NSW has the same priority as Katherine in terms of need to fill.”

He said a number of practices have already received calls from future employers choosing to go to another practice.

The RACGP is now calling for immediate action to balance the impact of the policy change.

“The RACGP has long been saying we need to stop tinkering around the edges and get serious about health funding reform, because everyone deserves access to high-quality and affordable care, no matter their postcode,” he said

“The government needs to invest in rural incentives to attract doctors to the communities that need them.”

Financial investment in rural practices would be the main way to see positive change in the workforce issues fro GPs.

“We need to see new blood and new investment,” Dr Clements said.

“We need solutions to draw people back out again and get that balance back.”

Plan to boost local doctors workforce in NT

A FOCUS on community-based training for general practitioners is hoping to boost the number of local doctors in the Northern Territory.

Royal Australian College General Practitioner president Dr Karen Price said the college would be pushing for “a much bigger local presence” in communities across the Territory.

“We really want to get people from local areas because we know they return to their home,” she said.

Dr Price said the emphasis would be on delivering training that focus on “on the ground, context-driven training experiences.”

The aim is to train up local doctors and have them stay in the NT, improving continuity of care Territorians often miss out on.

RACGP president Dr Karen Price.

“It’s much harder for the NT because there are a lot of doctors in training and it’s a transient community,” Dr Price said.

“We need to start changing that and growing some flourishing communities that make people want to stay.”

With the shortage of doctors expected to reach 11,000 nationally in the next decade, Dr Price said the time was now to start prioritising the profession.

“If we carry on the way we are the NT is likely to suffer,” she said.

“We need big picture reform and to reinvest in GP so that it becomes the specialty of choice,” she said.

The RACGP is planning to open up an NT faculty office for the first time, to increase their reach and have an impact on the ground.

A faculty council will be made up of GP members from across the Territory.

“We will have lots of presence in smaller communities and be able to support new doctors and support training from there,” Dr Price said.