The RDAT has expressed frustrations over a sustainable employment model being ignored by the Tasmanian Health Service.
Frustration is growing in Tasmania due to public hospitals consistently using locums to fill positions over rural generalists despite the massive pay difference.
The average locum salary of $1.1 million dwarfs the average salary of a permanent specialist, bringing into question why it happens at all.
“It costs essentially twice the money to employ a locum specialist as it does to employ a permanent specialist, and this goes up another 50% in relative cost when employing locum registrars versus permanent registrars,” Rural Doctors Association of Tasmania (RDAT) president Dr Ben Dodds said.
The RDAT has claimed that there is room for the Tasmanian Health Service to bring in phased implementation of a rural generalist model.
This suggestion has been touted by the RDAT for its cost efficiency in how it could redeploy the rural generalist workforce within hospitals on a patient-needs basis.
With rural workforce shortages already rife in Tasmania, the push for this change is expected to help provide junior doctors with clearer pathways to sustainable employment in Tasmania.
This lack of pathway has been cited by the RDAT as the reason many Tasmanian-trained junior doctors are forced to search other states for post-fellowship employment.
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When it comes to how this flaw in the Tasmanian health system has persisted, many health bodies within the state are also confused on why there has been no legislative change.
“There’s a lot of things that Tasmania is decades behind on, unfortunately,” RDAT vice president Dr Aaron Hawkins told The Medical Republic.
“I think they’ve gotten away with having an imperfect system, and it’s glossed over, but I think now it’s come to a head.
“In Tasmania, the rural generalism has taken off really well over the last maybe five or 10 years.
“So now we’ve got actually quite a big workforce that’s available that probably wasn’t there in the past.”
Government inaction on this has been heavily criticised. Both the RDAT and the RACGP have highlighted that this issue, when solved, would not only save millions of dollars but also contribute to more efficient health care.
Poor communication from the Tasmanian Health Service on rural generalism has come from a lack of commitment from the state in capitalising off rural generalism’s potential, says the RDAT.
“They’re working towards solutions, but it just seems to be kicking the can further down the road there,” RACGP Tasmania chair Dr Toby Gardner told TMR.
“There’s a willing workforce now that are ready to go at a fraction of the cost.
“Marry it all up, make it a priority, make it someone’s pet project and just get on with it instead of pushing it down the road further.”
