COUNTRY towns will have immediate access to a pool of international doctors following changes to the District of Workforce Shortage (DWS) system, but rural doctors say the focus should be on skills, not plugging holes.
Changes to the DWS system earlier this month could make it easier for rural areas to recruit GPs who can’t practice in capital cities, but more work was needed in recruiting Australian doctors to rural areas, according to Rural Doctors Association of NSW secretary David Richmond.
The Cowra GP supported the DWS maps being made available online, but said some overseas doctors weren’t suited to a rural environment.
“We’ve seen some fantastic overseas trained doctors moving into those areas but at times we’re putting them in the most far flung, remote and unsupported areas of Australia,” Dr Richmond said.
“The DWS will at least get a doctor to a town and hopefully that will be a good fit, but we really need to make sure we get the right doctor in the right town with the right training.
“You can’t just plonk an overseas doctor in western NSW as the only doctor in town as it’s very difficult for them to study. We’ve seen many overseas doctors not get full qualifications even after 10 years of working in Australia.”
Dr Richmond said most NSW towns with populations of less than 10,000 would be classified as a DWS.
He said there was a big imbalance between the number of young Australians studying medicine and how many work as GPs in rural areas.
“There’s always talk about a tsunami of medical students coming through, but very few come west of the mountains,” Dr Richmond said.
“We’ve placed greater emphasis on selecting people from rural backgrounds who are more likely to stay in rural areas but we haven’t really seen a swamping of rural areas with Australian trained doctors as yet.”
Dr Richmond said the Medical Rural Bonded Scholarship scheme, which provides funding to students who agree to work in country areas for up to six years, had encouraged more people to work in rural medicine.
“The advent of rural medical schools has increased exposure of students to rural environments, so we’re hopeful that we’ll see the rural medical workforce grow stronger.
“We are starting to see an increase through the rural generalist program where junior doctors get access to procedural and specialist skills training that’s more applicable to working in a rural town.
“Successive governments have supported these programs over the years and we’re hopeful that Fiona Nash will continue her good work in highlighting the needs of rural areas.”
