Attractive offers luring British-trained doctors Down Under

British-trained junior doctors are being lured to Australia by such attractive and competing offers by various states that a third are ‘actively’ thinking about relocating.

Doctors Husam and Mais Ria who swapped Yorkshire for Wollongong. Picture: Jane Dempster/The Australian

British-trained junior doctors are being lured to Australia by such attractive and competing offers by various states that one-third are “actively” thinking about ­relocating.

As Britain tries to retain and attract new medical staff, amid a protracted doctors’ pay row, those willing to relocate across the world are being tempted by flights, accommodation, bonuses and other varied incentives beyond enjoying a sunny lifestyle.

Offers for flights, visa costs and a bumper salary from the South Australian health service compete with eye-watering enticements from Australian recruitment agencies for British-trained locums to enjoy a $240,000 (£127,600) salary and 20 days off a month to “travel, swim and surf in the sun”. Having to work night shifts to achieve such conditions is in the fine print.

This week, the British Medical Journal is advertising 48 different medical jobs on offer across Australia including one for a registrar trainee in emergency medicine in Rockingham, Western Australia, on $115,028 to $157,053. A consultant psychiatrist for WA Health, based in Perth, is offered a salary of $357,930 to $456,008.

General practitioners Mais Ria and husband Husam left Britain in 2018 for a better lifestyle in the Illawarra region along the south coast of NSW and haven’t looked back.

After she completed her GP training in 2015, Dr Mais Ria worked in Yorkshire, in northern England, as a salaried GP and as a locum GP. She was also a clinical lead for children and young people overseeing more than 100 prac­tices for the NHS.

“I wasn’t happy. Ten-minute appointments weren’t good enough,” she said.

Then there were on-call shifts for emergencies and keeping up with scripts and referrals, which all contributed to overtime hours.

“It was manic. It was not sustainable general practice. And it was getting worse,” she said.

After they landed in Shellharbour and then eventually settled nearby in Shellcove, she said it was a “breath of fresh air” to work in Australia and at The Jamberoo Surgery – a private billing practice located about 20km south of Wollongong.

“It’s nice to work in a place that feels like home. I can choose to see two to three patients an hour if I wish,” she said. “The patients really appreciate it … (and) for the family lifestyle that we want, Australia is a no-brainer.”

Northern Ireland’s DUP shadow health spokesman Jim Shannon told Westminster parliament this week: “The poaching of junior doctors by Australia, for example, for better pay and working conditions, as opposed to fractured shift patterns here, is a major issue. It is not just about expanding the workforce, it is also about having a careful and concerted campaign to retain staff here.”

British MP Jim Shannon. Picture: Twitter

BMA Junior Doctors Committee co-chair Vivek Trivedi. Picture: Twitter

The British Medical Association describes the situation as “severe” and points to a recent survey that showed poor pay and deteriorating working conditions in Britain were behind the overseas exodus in that a third of junior doctors were going overseas, with four in 10 choosing Australia, well ahead of Canada, New Zealand and the Middle East.

Vivek Trivedi, co-chair of the BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee, said: “These figures are hugely concerning. If our government doesn’t act now, it doesn’t take a genius to see where this will lead: an exodus of junior doctors to foreign countries, with the ones who stay in the NHS facing an ever increasing workload – until they feel they have no option but to leave too or get burnt out.”

Western NSW Local Health District, which covers Cobar and Bourke and the hospitals in Bathhurst, Orange and Dubbo, has addressed the barrier of distance that deters some British potential staff, insisting on its website that “Western NSW is not far away – wherever you are in the world”.

The health service says: “In certain positions, we offer $10,000 to assist in your relocation and set up your new home, and an additional $10,000 every year you stay, on top of your award wage.” It is a given that visa assistance is provided and in some instances, accommodation provided.

Not to be outdone, Victoria Health sponsors international travel, visas, accommodation for several months and a bonus $13,000 if working in a rural or regional health service.

The Northern Territory government has $12.8m to help fill critical skill shortages, targeting medical staff from the UK, New Zealand, Ireland and Singapore.

The big attraction to work in Australia is better pay and less workplace stress.