A South Australian recruitment drive targeting disaffected junior doctors in the UK has successfully lured a GP to the outback town of Wudinna, which has been without a permanent doctor for nearly two years.
Key points:
- Wudinna was without a GP for nearly two years after their resident doctor resigned
- It took an international search and multiple incentives to recruit the new GP
- He says bureaucratic red tape is preventing international doctors coming to Australia
Doctor Ernest Wong joined the Wudinna Medical Practice at the end of October after hearing the SA Health call-out on a British morning news program.
Dr Wong was one of many junior doctors in the UK who had walked off the job seeking better pay and conditions from the National Health Service.
Originally from Singapore and trained in the UK, Dr Wong said he has been immediately welcomed by the tight-knit Wudinna community.
A six-hour drive from Adelaide, the town of 1,000 people has been relying on nurses working alongside locum doctors and telehealth since late 2021.
“The first thing that really struck me was how appreciative people are,” Dr Wong said.
“People are very resilient, very appreciative.”
The town’s former GP, Dr Scott Lewis, resigned at the end of 2021 citing a lack of support from SA Health.
Dr Lewis retained ownership of the practice and worked extensively with council to recruit the new doctor.
The local community also formed advocacy groups to alert MPs to the town’s search for a permanent GP.
Together, they created an employment package that included housing, a vehicle and training for a pilot’s licence, subsidised by Wudinna District Council.
Community effort
“There’s a real palpable sense of excitement throughout the community,” Dr Lewis said.
“They are very excited to see the medical practice up and running again and to have a locally resident doctor back here again.”
Until recently, Wudinna residents faced a two-and-a-half-hour drive to the nearest major medical centre of Port Lincoln.
“For patients to be able to access healthcare close to where they live and not be forced to travel hundreds of kilometres to access care is something community is really looking forward to,” Dr Lewis said.
Local resident Megan Lister said the absence of a GP had a flow-on effect on the community.
“A teacher would have to take a whole day off work if they needed to go and just get a script, or kids would have to miss a day of school if they needed to see a doctor,” she said.
“So it was taking people out of work and out of school.”
Despite the urgent need for a doctor, and Dr Wong’s interest in relocating to Wudinna, it wasn’t an easy process.
He described the bureaucratic journey as long, tedious and expensive, involving an English language test despite training and passing medical exams in the UK.
According to the Rural Doctors’ Association of South Australia, the demand for rural doctors will only increase, with just 18 per cent of all medical graduates becoming general practitioners and even fewer practising in rural areas, compared with 50 per cent three decades ago.
Bureaucratic hurdles
Overseas-trained doctors make up around half the country’s rural GP workforce, but visa requirements and pandemic travel restrictions have seen their numbers decrease.
Billboards spruiking the work and lifestyle advantages of migrating to South Australia were parked outside hospitals in the UK during the doctors’ strike earlier this year, as part of a recruitment campaign.
Dr Wong said Australia is a “mecca” for junior doctors in the UK, who have long been calling for pay in line with inflation.
Streamlining the international recruitment process is a key concern for SA Health Minister Chris Picton, who said the complicated Australian migration process can make Australia a less attractive destination than countries like Canada and New Zealand, which have more efficient pathways for doctors to relocate.
“At the moment we have a pretty ridiculous process with all the steps that doctors from lower risk countries like the UK –where they have all their accreditations – have to go through to come to Australia,” Mr Picton said.
He said an independent review considering ways to help ease health workforce shortages in Australia will be a key agenda item at the next National Cabinet meeting.
