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State gets mean on country practice (Bendigo Advertiser, opinion editorial)
22 November 2008
By Dr Doug Travis
Rent aid for metro doctors on regional rotation is about to be withdrawn ...
Bendigo, like most of country Victoria, is short of doctors, and the Victorian Government is about to make the problem of attracting and retaining the medical workforce even worse.
The Australian Medical Association Victoria is negotiating a new pay deal with the Government on behalf of doctors working in public hospitals.
The deal on the table offers an annual pay rise of 3.25 per cent for the next four years.
Buried in the detail of the Government's log of claims is a real kicker for Bendigo and country Victoria.
Hundreds of Melbourne doctors undertake three month rotations in country hospitals to further their learning and provide additional services in areas short of doctors.
AMA Victoria supports the rotations and sees them as vital for introducing junior doctors to regional life.
Because these hundreds of doctors are required to do the country terms as a condition of their Melbourne employment, it makes sense that their accommodation is provided by their employer.
After all, doctors based in Melbourne can't rent out their flat just for the few weeks they are working in the country.
The present arrangement with hospitals ensures that doctors who have to do a country rotation get supported accommodation in the country town.
It's a sensible arrangement and ensures that doctors are happy to provide services in rural and regional Victoria.
All the evidence suggests that a positive experience of rural medicine is a key indicator of a future career in rural medicine.
Under the Government's present proposal, the subsidy will disappear next year.
Doctors will have to pay commercial rent for their country rotation while they are paying commercial rent in Melbourne.
Suddenly a positive learning experience in country Victoria turns into a financial impost on the doctors.
The additional burden will mean that every time doctors are seconded to regional Victoria from a metro hospital they will get a pay cut. This prospect will not dispose young doctors to working in the country.
AMA Victoria has been calling for a rural rescue package for country Victoria - a modest investment of one quarter of 1 per cent of the Department of Human Services budget - to help country doctors.
So far in 2008, the Brumby Government has not responded to our package.
We were hoping that the Government would offer further support for country medicine, but none has been forthcoming.
Never in a million years did we expect to be fighting a rearguard action to protect an existing subsidy for young doctors experiencing country practice.
Just the suggestion that the subsidy will disappear is breeding resentment among young doctors, and it certainly does not send a signal that country practice is valued.
The Brumby Government must act immediately to ensure that all doctors doing country rotations in Bendigo and in other regional public hospitals continue to receive subsidised accommodation as part of their secondment.
Dr Doug Travis is AMA Victoria president
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