AusDoc 12th Dec | Page 3

NEWS 3
ausdoc. com. au 12 DECEMBER 2025

NEWS 3

Female GPs‘ punished’ for longer consults

Analysis shows gender pay gap of at least $ 40,000.
Ciara Seccombe FEMALE GPs are billing an average of $ 349 per consulting hour compared with $ 373 for men— a gender earnings gap of 6.5 %.
This is based on an analysis by GP corporate Ochre Health, which tracked real billings between July 2023 and June 2024, across 511 GPs in 70 practices.
The company found that women billed marginally more per appointment than men: $ 95.02 versus $ 94.89.
However,“ 99 %” of the income gap per hour was due to male GPs squeezing in an extra appointment every four consulting hours, it said.
Difference in real earnings worse
The results suggested that, assuming female and male GPs racked up the same consulting hours a year, women’ s billings would be almost $ 40,000 a year less.
However, women averaged fewer consulting hours a year than men( 590 vs 666), so the difference in real earnings was almost certainly worse.
Former RACGP president Dr Nicole Higgins said Medicare’ s bias towards shorter consultations punished female GPs.
“ Female GPs are more likely to see female patients about family planning, antenatal care and, increasingly, mental health, behavioural health and social issues, such as family violence,” she said.
“ We need to address the root cause, flipping the rebate structure so that we do support longer consultations and complexity versus six-minute medicine.”
The report found a 10.2 % gender gap in billings per consulting hour in rural areas( defined as Modified Monash 3-7).
Overall, female GPs averaged a 56 % bulk-billing rate compared with 63 % for men.
Pay gap smaller among young GPs
However, the gender earnings gap for GPs seems to be smaller than the national average for all industries: 11.5 %, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The Ochre report suggested this might be a result of GPs being independent contractors with more control over their fees.
‘ We are closing the gap, but women are still doing more and being paid less.’
— Dr Nicole Higgins
It also found a lower gender earnings gap between millennial GPs of just 3 %.
Dr Higgins said:“ You can see that young female GPs are valuing their work and training, and among those younger doctors, the gender pay gap is less.
“ There is some good news. We are closing the gap, but we still have the issue where women are doing more and are paid less for the work that we do.”
AAP

Westfield killings under the glare of hindsight

FROM PAGE 1
Cauchi fell through the health
downplaying his mental illness in a“ disingen-
trists said Dr Boros-Lavack had no choice but
“ Compared to them, Joel would’ ve been
system cracks.
uous” attempt to justify her decision to wean
to accept Mr Cauchi ' s decision not to recom-
the sort of person that you would have
Despite numerous run-ins with police, he
him off his antipsychotic medication.
mence antipsychotic treatment given he had
referred back to a GP and expect a GP to
was effectively without treatment or supervi-
And while Dr Boros-Lavack had agreed her
not reached the threshold for involuntary
manage.
sion for five years.
handover to the GP was deficient, Ms Dwyer
treatment.
“ I know he was moving and that made
With his life and mental health spiral-
said the coroner should find that her conces-
Professor Olav Nielssen, a psychiatrist at
things much more complicated, but that is
ling out of control, he became homeless and
sion was not genuine.
St Vincent’ s Hospital Sydney and professor
the reality.”
developed a fixation on violence, knives and
“ It’ s highly concerning that someone
of psychiatry at Sydney’ s Macquarie Univer-
He also made reference to the wonders of
serial killers.
charged with the care of some of the most vul-
sity, even called the care she provided“ exem-
hindsight, stating that the odds of a patient
In her final submission to the inquest, Ms
nerable in our society would be so unwilling to
plary”, except for the discharge procedure.
with schizophrenia committing murder were
Dwyer accused Dr Boros-Lavack of deliberately
reflect and learn,” Ms Dwyer suggested.
“ It was above and beyond, really up until
about one in 10,000.
Expert panel
As Australian Doctor has
the end. It was just the handover; there were some shortcomings there.”
One of the problems was simply that pri-
“ That’ s a homicide rate similar to the whole population of Louisiana, the US state with the highest homicide rate.
reported, days after Dr
vate psychiatrists in Brisbane, where Mr
“ A person in Louisiana is about as dan-
Boros-Lavack had told
Cauchi ended up, had long waitlists, high gap
gerous as a person with schizophrenia in
the inquest Mr Cauchi
Australia.”
was not psychotic when he went on his killing rampage, an assessment she was in no position to make, an expert panel of five psychiatrists
‘ It was just the handover; there were some shortcomings.’
As part of her final submission, Ms Dwyer told the inquest that AHPRA had the opportunity to investigate the psychiatrist further.
She said family submissions would call for Dr Boros-Lavack— who was in a position of“ great trust” and“ enormous responsibility”—
fronted the inquest to
to be referred to a professional panel.
field questions about
fees and short-term referral periods.
“ No-one could have foreseen the tragic
her actual care.
This was the observation made by Profes-
events of 13 April 2024; it’ s not suggested that
They all agreed that
sor Matthew Large, medical superintendent
Dr Boros-Lavack could have,” she added.
ceasing Mr Cauchi’ s
of mental health services at Sydney’ s Prince of
But she claimed the failure to respond
medication was a mis-
Wales Hospital.
when Mr Cauchi expressed his own con-
take“ in hindsight” and
He also pointed out that public psychi-
cerns about his mental health, particularly
that most psychiatrists
atrists mostly treated patients with sub-
around his obsession with pornography, was
would strive to maintain
stance use disorders or those who had
“ extremely sad”.
a patient on medication
attempted suicide.
“ Joel Cauchi had hopes and dreams for his
Peggy Dwyer SC( left).
AAP
if they tolerated it well. But several psychia-
“ They’ re the typical patients we look after in the public sector,” Professor Large said.
life, and his parents had hopes and dreams for his life,” Ms Dwyer said.