Australian Doctor 11th Oct Issue | Page 21

ausdoc . com . au 11 OCTOBER 2024

21

VIEWS FROM YOUR ONLINE COMMUNITY

A cheap shot at locums ?

Locum fees should be capped amid ‘ excruciating ’ workforce crisis

Dr Rod Martin , ACRRM ’ s president-elect , says some locums are being paid $ 4000 a day . I have never been offered that .

My own home hospital in NSW refused to request locum relief for the two VMO GPs in town ( one of whom was me ). By then , I had had enough .

Now , I go to other towns whose services are precarious to help them maintain birthing services for their community .

I have to do the courses at my own expense to meet the credentialling requirements for different states . The accommodation is often horrible .

And yes , as everyone else says , I am not returning home after a shift to my partner and my pets .

Sitting in a motel room writing this , I am gobsmacked by the article .

The welcome and support I receive from the people I am helping are always outstanding .

And there are many of us out here who do this job because we want to help .

Remember , we get no sick leave , the rates are before tax , there is no protected time , no study leave and no long service / annual leave .

Without the overheads , we are actually cheaper than you think .

Dr Janet Roberts GP , South West Rocks , NSW

So much for the supply-anddemand curve — economics 101 .

Dr Martin ’ s premise is based on the truly false belief that medicine , particularly primary care , is a closed market with nowhere else to go if you do not like the pay or conditions .

But you only have to look to see that , even without any more disincentives , many , many doctors will choose a very different path from working in rural areas .

Dr Clive Kenna GP , Sydney , NSW

Exposing unfounded AI fears

Why radiologists do not expect that AI will put them out of business

Technology terror has been a theme in medicine for at least 30 years .

I recall attending a GP conference in the 1990s where a certain professor opined that any doctor afraid of being replaced by a computer “ deserved ” to be replaced by a computer .

We are not Luddites ; are we ?

Dr John Mahony GP , Sydney , NSW

You need a radiologist to sign off on a report so that they have someone to sue .

Radiologists are busier than ever . There is a worldwide shortage .

Dr Christopher Wong Radiologist , Sydney , NSW

Listening with our hearts

I ’ m a doctor with hearing loss : Here ’ s my story …

Thank you , Dr Isabelle Schupak , for your poignant and inspirational reflections .

My mother retired from general practice , at age 75 , owing to profound hearing loss but , until her last weeks of life , never lost her keen interest in the world and humanity .

It was an ongoing challenge to get her treating doctors ( with a few wonderful exceptions ) to address their questions to her directly and not to me during consultations .

Dr Stephanie Weinrauch GP , Flaxton , Qld

An arm and a leg with no helping hand

Medical board ’ s $ 1027 rego fee ‘ extortionate ’, says Professor Steve Robson

I have just renewed my registration fee to go on maternity leave .

I am literally paying them to do nothing for me on the basis I may wish to go back to work before the next renewal is due and subsequently have to pay two ( full ) fees in close succession and deal with extra paperwork to transition from a non-practising registration .

So in essence , AHPRA is charging women , on average , more despite providing them with less . I find this very strange and outdated !

Funnily enough , if you work for AHPRA , it provides very generous paternity leave , which I think is great . But clearly , it is an organisation that functions better for them than its members .

Dr Alicia Kaczmark GP , Perth , WA

When I graduated in 1964 , I paid £ 10 ( pre-decimal currency ) for registration for life !

But the fees gradually increased every year , so I am glad I retired .

It means I do not have to do CPD and pay large fees for little benefit .

Dr Nancy Nicholas Retired doctor , Melbourne , Vic

The bit that annoys me is the apparent pointlessness of anyone being registered with AHPRA .

I applied for a job with Queensland Health , and it still needed a Justice of the Peace – certified copy of my medical degree and a fellowship certificate , like it was 50 years ago .

The fact I am paying AHPRA to verify and display my qualifications seems to mean absolutely nothing in the end despite the $ 1000 cost .

Dr Antony Johnston Medical practitioner , Sydney , NSW

Farming out a town ’ s healthcare

‘ Cancers sticking out like dogs ’ balls ’: When a GP arrives in a town that has not seen a doctor for over a year

When my rural home town lost its doctors , it nearly lost everything .

People had to travel to the nearest regional centre to see a GP , but they often took their scripts to the big corporate pharmacy instead of our small community pharmacy .

While there , they also began getting their weekly grocery shopping

from the large chain supermarket instead of our community IGA .

There is a bus service from town to the closest regional centre , but it does not help when there is a 6-8- week wait for an appointment that is available between the hours that the bus runs .

But significantly , the opportunity for preventive medicine was lost .

The farmers who could not afford to be away from the farm for several hours of the day would not take time off , and many would not ask to see a doctor until their symptoms had become unbearable .

Dr Kerri Faull Medical practitioner , West

Gladstone , Qld

Take more care when planning

Federal Government shelves its MBS care plan reforms

OMG . They flagged this change to the rebates nearly 18 months ago ; didn ’ t they ?

The plan to scrap the team care arrangement item was good . It remains a complete waste of time

It ’ s time to rip off the bandaid

Dr

having all these specialists and allied health people having to sign off on a document that has not improved patient care one iota .

I have always done referral letters , where appropriate , that convey more information than the team care arrangement .

It also amuses me to think that the bureaucrats intend to equalise the rebates for a care plan review and a care plan since we are not reviewing care plans because of the lower claims being made for them .

A care plan review bills about the same as a level C consult . So why bother charging for the review ?

Dr Michael Size GP , Sydney , NSW

I agree that the paperwork required for team care arrangements is currently a waste of time for the GP . But the actual care provided is not .

In the long run , the co-ordination of specialists and allied health in a well-crafted long-term plan that serves the patients — and gives adequate reimbursement for the GP — is a win-win .

It saves the government money , both short and long term .

I think it is better to wait until it has been thoroughly evaluated than to jump into a fundamentally flawed change .

Dr Christine Barstad GP , South Burnie , Tas

ACT Govt nurse clinic turned away patient with cellulitis without helping them find medical care , GP says

The Canberra nurse-led clinics have always been a high-cost and ineffective bandaid fix . Ingrained inefficiencies must be funded if something is government initiated and serves a union base . Real medicine is hard , but what we are up against is a bureaucratic assumption that medical opinion has very little value . We need a proper debate about today ’ s health workforce that is grounded in reality .

Dr Evan Ackermann GP , Gold Coast , Qld

Ronald Regan ’ s words continue to ring true . The nine most scary words in the English language are , “ I ’ m from the government , and I ’ m here to help .”

Dr Joe Kosterich GP , Perth , WA