New Zealand GPs have condemned a move by Australia to remove red tape and make it easier for doctors here to work across the Tasman.
“We’re way behind already,” president of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners Samantha Murton said.
“If we reduce that even further by people going easily to Australia, then our patients are going to miss out.”
From Monday, doctors from New Zealand, the UK and Ireland who want to practice medicine in Australia will no longer need to be individually assessed by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners to practice medicine. They’ll still need to complete registration and other checks.
Murton said the move wasn’t in keeping with the Anzac spirit.
“We expect our Australian counterparts to reflect on the fact that they’re stealing from a country that’s already behind the eight ball.”
But an Australian health recruitment agency said authorities there needed to address the country’s own doctor shortage.
“This is a really big move by the Australian government,” general manager of Healthdaq Nathan Cox said.
He said while doctors’ salaries in Australia had been better than in New Zealand for some time, a stumbling block had been the application process.
“By taking out this impediment, it provides extra incentive for GPs to consider Australia as a destination.”
Cox said around 60 to 100 New Zealand doctors crossed the Tasman for work each year.
“I believe that will increase significantly off the back of this announcement. It presents a real challenge to New Zealand.”
He said the demand in Australia was greatest in provincial areas and regions serving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islands communities.
“You’ll probably see much more advertising by Australian health services and general practices trying to attract New Zealand doctors over.”
1News asked Health Minister Dr Shane Reti about the prospect of a new campaign promoting Australia to New Zealand doctors.
“We’ve always been poached if you like by overseas interests,” he said. “Particularly from across the Tasman because it’s so close and easy to get trans-Tasman mutual recognition, so that’s a concern we’ll focus on around retention.”
Health New Zealand told 1News there was a global shortage of health workers.
“We know our workforce is in demand around the world,” its chief people officer Andrew Slater said.
“We are focused on working across government and with the relevant regulatory bodies to make it as efficient as possible for internationally qualified medical professionals to come to New Zealand and safely practice.”
Murton said it was crucial for New Zealand to keep as many of its local doctors as possible.
“How do we get a general practice workforce that matches what our population is?” she said.
“How do we get more Pasifika doctors, a higher proportion of Māori doctors and others who represent their community working in New Zealand if they’re being enticed overseas and not valued in their own country?”
Murton said change was urgently needed to keep doctors here. One way of doing that was to increase funding for trainees on GP vocational training. They were currently funded for one year, but she said instead the funding should cover all their years of training.
