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We need to keep our doctors
13 October 2008
There has been an increasing doctor exodus from Victoria to Queensland, according to new figures revealed today. In 2007-08, Queensland registered 217 new doctors who received their qualifications in Victoria, an increase of 31 over the previous year.
“We do not have enough doctors here,” AMA Victoria President Dr Doug Travis said, “and we can’t afford to lose more than 200 a year to Queensland”
Data from the Office of the Medical Board of Queensland shows that between 1 July 2007 and 30 June 2008, first registrations in Queensland included 123 Monash University medical graduates and 94 University of Melbourne medical graduates.
Doctors must be registered in the state or states in which they intend to practise. Doctors may register in more than one state or territory, although they must pay a registration fee in each jurisdiction where they are registered.
“227 Victorian medical graduates registering in Queensland is a pretty big number,” Dr Travis said. “Victorian medical schools are only due to produce 348 graduates this year — we can’t afford to be losing this many doctors interstate.”
In the next few years, Victorian Government figures show that we will have the worst doctor shortages in our history. The Government’s calculations include a large number of overseas trained doctors, and the figures do not include large numbers of doctors leaving the state.
Graduate numbers in Victoria are due to increase from 352 to 576 in 2011, but when new inexperienced doctors come on board from 2012, they will need additional training from senior specialists in public hospitals.
“We need to hang on to our existing doctors as long as possible, not only to provide services but to teach the next generation of doctors,” Dr Travis said.
“Other states are trying to attract Victorian doctors. They are paying more, they are offering better conditions, and they are trying to improve the culture in their public hospitals.”
Dr Travis contrasted the approach of other states with Victoria, which has so far failed to finalise a new EBA, leaving Victorian doctors as the lowest paid in the Commonwealth. The Victorian Government has so far failed to implement the recommendations of the Ministerial Review of Public Hospital Medical Staff. The Ministerial Review noted “many reports of low morale, a feeling that medical practitioners were devalued by the system and by management.”
Dr Travis said that the Government needed to address the problems in our public hospitals before too many doctors leave. “The bottom line is that we cannot afford to lose our doctors.”
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