Toowoomba jobs: Business offers $300k incentive for new recruit

A Toowoomba business says a profession is facing such a dire shortage, they are offering a $300,000 sign-on bonus for a new recruit.

A Toowoomba medical facility is offering up to $300,000 as a sign-on bonus to attract new psychiatrists, as the profession continues to battle a dire staff shortage.

The Toowoomba Clinic clinical director Dr Andrea Boros-Lavack said the hospital was searching both nationally and internationally to fill positions in the highly-sought field.

The mental health facility, which opened about a year ago, has struggled to fill positions and said Toowoomba psychiatrists had closed their books to new patients in the past 12 months.

“After over a year of discussions with the Federal Government, we are grateful the Federal Health Minister, Greg Hunt has recognised the critical shortage of psychiatrists in our region and is encouraging us to put forward applicants with international qualifications who may require a “19AB” exemption under the Health Insurance Act to gain a Medicare Provider Number,” Dr Boros-Lavack said.

“We are also finalising our application with (the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists) to become a training hospital and we will even offer lesser sign on bonuses for psychiatric registrars who commit to three years of training once this is possible.”

RANZCP president, Associate Professor John Allan, said earlier this year the workforce was in “dire straits”.

“There is national work being done to address our workforce issues, but we urge our governments to recognise and respond to the extreme shortages made worse by the pandemic,” Prof Allan said.

“Our workforce is in dire straits with lengthy wait times, maldistribution and lack of services.

“We hope that these recent announcements are only the start of a bigger effort to work towards a supported and stable psychiatric workforce.”