Letters
TWEET OF THE WEEK
GP earning power is complex
Letters
Your Views
EDITOR Clearly, the implication of actual discrimination is way off the mark(‘ Wide earnings gap persists between male and female doctors’, 30 August). If it’ s a salaried position, there is no gender difference, other than that dictated by seniority, qualifications and hours.
In general practice, there are no gender-linked item numbers. In GP land there is no pay, as such, but just what you earn by what you actually do, and how long for.
I dispute the statement that female doctors are more soft-hearted and bulk-bill, say, single mums where males may not. However, there are differences in the way we work. Having been holding the fort recently, while two female doctors from our practice are away, they do appear to attract more families with young children. The reverse is also true, as in my case, where my patients have aged with me, and a majority are now on pensions.
When you work in a mixed-billing practice, where one bulk-bills children, pensioners and Health Care Card holders, this hugely affects one’ s earning power. It is just another example of how inappropriate our method of remuneration has now become. And before the‘ charge-what-you-areworth-and-bulk-billing-be-damned’
FROM THE WEB
TWEET OF THE WEEK
“ If our health system is serious about supporting patients who want to see their GP, Medicare rebates need to be adjusted. Period. # auspol.”
— RACGP president Dr Bastian Seidel @ DrBastianSeidel
Follow us at @ australiandr folk leap in, I have done that and half my practice evaporated, but returned when I went back to bulk-billing the pensioners. So, clearly, patient loyalty only goes so far. Dr Peter Bradley GP, Brisbane, Qld
EDITOR Anyone who prefers to do longer consultations( C / D) is always going to earn less than those who mostly do level B billing.
There is no gender-based discrimination in pay scales in hospitals and probably none with most private employers. Nor does the Medicare rebate differ according to the gender of the provider.
However, if you are less available in the working week or work fewer than eight hours a day, you are less
Caring and sharing
(‘“ One-person army”: GP exposes specialist fees on new website’, 5 September) Ahem. Every time discussion on fees come up, someone says“ charge what you think you are worth.” And every GP applauds. Methinks Dr Richard Zhu has a bit too much spare time. Do we want to get like the UK where government forces every GP to put its earnings on a website?
OutsideTheBox Medicare could easily compile a list based on providers and fees attached to the item numbers. They have chosen not to even though they supplement the wages. Transparency is good for all.
Josh
Unfair criticism?
( Full fee-paying med students won’ t go bush, 31 August) International full-fee-paying students are already subsidising all the medical school spots by paying five times what Commonwealthsupported students pay. They are still slapped with a 10-year moratorium despite the exact same training as someone who has local residency status. I find it quite
rich that the article says only six ended up in rural District of Workforce Shortage areas. Everyone has to fulfil their moratorium requirements whether that’ s via exemption or by working in a outermetropolitan DWS area. To single out international students is quite unfair considering their obligation stops once their moratorium finishes.
Ex-International So look after the ones who want to go bush. Duh.
Rural GP International students have the same ambitions as local students. And the strongest predictor of rural service is a rural background. Does this mean med schools will
likely to get access to better-paying work.
If I want to get a plumber to fix my taps, I do not simply make one phone call and wait for them to call back if they don’ t pick up. When people learn you are not working full-time, they are less likely to make you their first port of call.
Dr Shyan Goh orthopaedic surgeon, Sydney, NSW
Have your say
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continue to massively lower the bar for entry for rural students, continuing the practice of staffing rural posts with lower achievers and indentured overseas-trained doctors?
Leviathan
Privacy matters
( Head of doctors’ health program quits, 23 August) This is a great shame. Dr Kym Jenkins has done an exemplary job in the Victorian Doctors Health Program, and her resignation reflects a genuine and well-founded concern about anonymity and confidentiality, now that AMA Victoria is running the program at its headquarters. It has been noted in many studies of
Med school is all about learning how to learn
EDITOR Medical students will always need a basic grounding in facts(‘ Goodbye lectures, hello group learning?’, 25 August). The much-maligned rote learning is still essential. Only after you have learnt the basics can the interactive style of learning be useful.
Dr Graham McNally GP, Brisbane, Qld
EDITOR The definition of a lecture at my alma mater was:“ A transfer of the lecturer’ s notes to the student’ s notes, bypassing the brains of both.”
Dr Iliya Englin VMO, Reefton, New Zealand
EDITOR Some of us who went to‘ progressive’ schools would have loved to have had the occasional well-placed lecture. Call it a“ fixed resource session” if you must, but don’ t say,“ You have four weeks to teach yourself all things musculoskeletal”.
Dr Caitlin Raschke GP, Port Stephens, NSW
EDITOR I used to tell my students I was not teaching them facts but was teaching them how to learn. Dr Chris Hogan GP, Sunbury, Vic
australiandoctor. com. au
hospital employee assistance programs, for example, that doctors do not access them because they are located in sites where confidentiality cannot be guaranteed. Confidentiality must not only be protected, it must be seen to be protected.
Jill Gordon Have we learned nothing about mental health, privacy and stigma? How are doctors supposed to access this service and not be recognised? Full burqa à la Pauline Hanson? Doctors’ mental health( and overall health) is an urgent problem and deserves more consideration than this.
Dr Michael Axtens
Debunking myths
( Is coconut king?, 10 August) This article is so helpful for us GPs. Dr Rosemary Stanton you are debunking the emerging food myths once again. You are the most trusted commonsense expert on nutrition. What would I do without your careful analysis and advice?
Fiona McGrath Thank you so much Dr Stanton, for your excellent articles. This one is particularly topical.
Kylie Fardell
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