GP surgery in Tokoroa has been looking for a junior doctor for two years, with no takers so far despite generous package
A rural GP in New Zealand is offering a $400,000 (£190,000) annual income to try to attract a medic to share his work burden – but after two years of searching the position remains unfilled.
Dr Alan Kenny co-owns a medical practice in the modest Waikato town of Tokoroa in the North Island – population 13,600.
The GP – originally recruited from the UK – told the New Zealand Herald his practice has “exploded”, but he is overworked and has repeatedly had to cancel holidays because of the difficulty of finding a replacement or locum doctor.
“I can offer them a really, really amazing income; it’s incredible. My practice has exploded in the last year and the more patients you list, the more money you get. But it just gets too much at the end of the day.”
Two years ago Kenny’s daughter Sarah came to work as a GP at the practice, to learn from her father and help relieve the pressure. She is the only New Zealand doctor working at the practice.
As well as the hefty salary, Kenny is offering the right applicant three months’ annual leave, no night or weekend work – and a half share in the practice, which has 6000 patients on its books. But despite the generous conditions he has had no applications in four months.
“I love my work and I would like to stay but I hit my head against a brick wall trying to attract doctors,” Kenny told the Herald.
“If it’s hard enough to get doctors to work alongside me, it’s going to be a devil of a job to get doctors to replace me.”
The New Zealand Rural General Practice Network’s deputy chief executive, Linda Reynolds, said the majority of rural GP vacancies were filled by international medical graduates (IMGs).
The typical salary for a rural GP was between NZ$150,000 to $280,000, she said, and vacancies took between two to three years to fill on average.
“We rely heavily on IMGs, but the majority who come stay on a short term basis. The demand is constant and growing.”
Reynolds said contributing factors to the rural GP shortage were isolation, lack of schooling options and social activities, and poor access to broadband networks.