Currently, there is a surge in the numbers of UK GPs seeking GP jobs in Australia. The drivers for this trend are diverse but there are a number of key motivations that stand out as common to most.
The principle reason UK GPs start looking for jobs in Australia is discontent with their working life in the UK. I have not interviewed a single GP in well over a decade whose prime motivation has not been the prospect of a better working life in Australia. GPs in the UK are unhappy with the NHS, unhappy with the volume of work, unhappy with working conditions, unhappy that they are required to push their patients through quickly and unable to treat them as they would like. This is common knowledge here in the UK and this discontent is frequently highlighted in the news.
These UK GPs are also often unhappy with general conditions here in the UK – the weather, the state of the nation, the high cost of living relative to their income, and the sense of gloom about the future. And they are very unhappy that they have to spend a disproportionate amount of their life working.
The flip side of this discontent is that UK GPs have hope and optimism that working in Australia may offer a better life both professionally and personally. The key phrase I hear so often is that they believe a GP job in Australia will give them a better work/life balance.
And they are not wrong. GPs working in Australia will typically work fewer hours and receive a higher income than their UK counterparts. Naturally, there will be grumbles from time to time about working conditions, especially for those in very rural and remote locations, but GPs who go from the UK to Australia mostly find the working conditions infinitely superior. GPs working in Australia are not employed but will have their own business entity through which they work and will be contracted to a practice for a given period of time. This gives them more freedom to work as much or as little as they wish, subject to the needs of the practice and the contractual obligations they have signed up to. I have just signed up a UK GP who is keen to maximise his earnings but has significant family commitments – he will work from 10am to 4pm four days a week, plus one evening and one weekend day shift for which he will earn a much higher fee. He will be able to spend time with his family when they need him and earn exceptionally well. I often place GPs who wish to work no more than 32 hours per week because of family commitments and most practices are happy to arrange those hours to suit. And some GPs are simply focussed on the earnings and will choose to work in a practice that has extended working hours and a long patient list for the day – and their earnings will be very high!
What does a GP working in Australia earn? The average cited for a 38 hour week is $350,000 pa, although there are so many variables that this figure can be very misleading. Considering the extremes, earnings could be as low as $180,000 or as high as $600,000 pa. The factors that influence are the type of practice, the size of the patient base, the patient demographic, the percentage split of the fee between the GP and the practice (typically the GP takes 65% to 70% of the fee), what fee the practice charges (if a fee paying practice), the particular skills of the GP (GPs offering minor surgery, procedural skills, and care plans will earn substantially more), the way the GP works – whether they like to push the patients through quickly or take time with each patient, the location of the practice, and many more factors. I have always advised GP’s considering a job offer from a practice to ask for the average earnings by time worked at the practice and most practices will be very happy to provide such figures. When considering a job offer, each GP’s criteria will be different, but it will be very important that they understand the financial details, and advisable that they speak with a knowledgeable agent or recruiter in assessing each offer.
Most UK GPs, yearn to treat patients as they were trained to treat them. Primary care in the UK is so stretched that, almost universally, GPs are obliged to push their patients through and will often feel that all they do is fight fires and write prescriptions. The Australian government’s Medicare pays higher fees for a GP consultation involving various procedures, minor surgeries, women’s health procedures, and lifestyle disease care plans such as diabetes. (Medicare produces a ‘Cheat Sheet’ which outlines the higher fees.) This encourages GPs to consider the patient’s wider health, their lifestyle, and to take a more preventative approach to their treatment. Consequently, GPs working in Australia who treat their patients well will actually earn more. It’s a win-win: the patient wins with a more proactive and preventative approach to treatment; the government wins because such an approach demonstrably costs less to fund over time; and the practice and doctor win twice – they earn more for taking such an approach and enjoy their work more and can realise their vocation!
An equally compelling motivation for those in the UK seeking GP jobs in Australia is, simply, that Australia is a fantastic place to live! It’s geography, it’s range of climates from tropics in the north to the ski fields in the south and everything in between, the laid back lifestyle, the huge choice of outdoor leisure pursuits, its culture enhanced by immigrants from around the globe, the food, the high stand of living, the educational system, its great wealth derived largely from its minerals, its similarities to Britain with a common language and similar political system – all make it a highly desirable place for UK GPs to emigrate to.
Having decided to go to Australia to work, a UK GP will need to decide exactly where in this vast country to aim for. The decision will mostly be based on the supply of jobs for overseas-trained GPs, climate, lifestyle, proximity to cities, location of friends or family, good schools, and work opportunities for partners.
