Case Study - Riverland Mallee Coorong Local Health Network

Paul spoke about the challenges of attracting and retaining medical staff into regional areas, and how his organisation decided to take a different approach.

He suggested that many regional medical clinics and hospitals have a tendency to offer lower wages than their metropolitan counterparts. This has resulted in regional towns finding it difficult to recruit medical practitioners on a long-term or permanent basis, as many are keen to move back to metro areas and higher wages once their country residencies are complete.

This provides poorer outcomes for those living in regional and rural areas, who either have limited access to healthcare services, including GPs and specialists, or lack healthcare continuity as one locum replaces another.

To provide greater incentive for new and existing medical professionals to move to regional areas on a permanent basis, his practice decided to provide salaries competitive with metropolitan centres along with 4–5 year employment contracts. The aim is to encourage practitioners to become embedded in the local communities and view regional opportunities as a viable career move, rather than a stepping-stone in their career path, which so far seems to be having the desired effect.