Doctors' thread

[scattley]

If there is such a need for GPs and specialists that people wait for weeks and even months to see a doctor, why is it that getting into Medicine in Australia seems to be harder now than it was, say, in 2006, when some of my med school classmates went here breezily (no AMC requirement, papers done in weeks, etc)?

 

Before you can train as a GP you need to complete a mandatory amount of hospital training and that is where the bottleneck is...there are not enough places in teaching hospital for the graduates coming out of the program. Then the desire to enter GP training is not high as it's a significant salary drop from even third year hospital training to first year GP training...as much as 50%. Add to that most enter GP training after failing their first physicians exams which means 6-10 years hospital experience, the salary drop is significant.

 

The AMC requirements are to level the playing field with the variations of medical schools world wide. You are not required to hold a Fellowship in any medical college.Yet an Australian GP wi a Fellowship to the Royal Australian College of GPs and wanting to work in the UK...it's near on Impossible now but having a medical degree from any EU country not in English..and you can be a GP with open arms. The rules cut both ways.

[scattley]

So if I get into GP practice, I could work there. It's fairly close to Melbourne, where my husband is.

 

The question now is, will I get into a GP practice, considering that despite the demand the training positions are said to be hard to come by.

 

MD or RN...the only downside I could think of for RN is, well, the pay is smaller.

 

You still have a long way to go before you can train as a GP. there is the AMC exams to pass, getting full registration, getting citizenship, getting 12 plus months post general registration experience and then you can apply into the program. If you get in, and only 60% do, you then have to be selected into a region....if Bendigo is your only option, they may not select you. If you do get in they may assign you to Mildura(the Bendigo region for raining goes from there to Mildura).

[Antigone]

I have a question about RMO posts. RMO are supervised MD positions right? But are they assigned to a specific department, or is it like internship wherein you rotate?

 

Can one apply for training even without Australian internship, provided he's done RMO? If so, how many years?

[Tina2]

I know this thread was started for the Melbourne area, but just came across this in the Gold Coast area of Qld and thought it may be useful to a doctor looking at Qld.

http://medicall.com.au/gold-coast-medicall-medical-jobs.php

[Janh]

Hello everyone.Just come across this dr bit which is great! I am hoping to move to perth sept/oct and am going through the (lengthy)amc etc stuff at the moment.I have a job lined up as a GP. I have been working as a GP since 2002 but am a bit worried about the posts talking about initiating insulin and other complicated things..am aware the nurses do so much stuff here in the UK! I am a bit lacking in practical skills..plan to do implant training and can inject a knee etc but is it worth going all out to get minor surgery training etc before i go? Thanks v much for any info ! jan x

[yasir457]

Hi Jan.

Have been working here for a year now. No you don't need to know/do anything more than you already doing in UK as a GP. In fact on the contrary, GP life and work is easier here than UK. Hope you get over the processing phase in good time (AMC, RACGP and AHPRA).

Regards

Yasir

[Janh]

Hello thank you for taking time to reply! That is very reassuring thank you.Amc done and rest still to come! Jan

[Guest NuriootpaSA]

Yes, the nurses in the UK do many of the tasks that are assigned to doctors in Australia. yet AHPRA are continuously querying the standard of UK nurses when it coms to assessing for Australian registration. Perhaps it is Australia that is lagging behind re standards and assigning tasks, and perhaps they should be looking at this rather than at overseas nurses who do so much more than their Australian counterparts.

 

Hello everyone.Just come across this dr bit which is great! I am hoping to move to perth sept/oct and am going through the (lengthy)amc etc stuff at the moment.I have a job lined up as a GP. I have been working as a GP since 2002 but am a bit worried about the posts talking about initiating insulin and other complicated things..am aware the nurses do so much stuff here in the UK! I am a bit lacking in practical skills..plan to do implant training and can inject a knee etc but is it worth going all out to get minor surgery training etc before i go? Thanks v much for any info ! jan x

[mgpant]

Hi

I am new to the forum and find it very helpful.Me, a GP and my oh, a Psychiatrist are moving to Brisbane.Just wanted to know if anyone had any idea of current timeframes for AHPRA processing. I have just got my RACGP fellowship and next step is AHPRA.

thanks

[Janh]

Hello I am at the same point as you! 8 weeks at least I have been told but think it varies.i am a GP and my husband is a psychiatrist off to perth! I get the feeling that AHPRA is the bit that takes some time

[mgpant]

Hello I am at the same point as you! 8 weeks at least I have been told but think it varies.i am a GP and my husband is a psychiatrist off to perth! I get the feeling that AHPRA is the bit that takes some time

 

Good to know there are others like us has your husband had his Ranzcp assesment? Our problem is that my employer isn't a sponsor so we can't go even if my AHPRA gets done in 8 weeks. He hasn't had his Ranzcp assessment yet. When r u hoping to move? Send me a pm if you can, will be good to keep in touch

[Guest NuriootpaSA]

AHPRA is woeful at the moment.

[nikopol]

AHPRA is woeful at the moment.

 

Well they've never been that fastest and can be quite frustrating.

 

Here's my experience last august/september as an FY2 in UK going to SRMO

Re: the lenghth of time they take - it all depends on how you line up your ducks.

Your employer has to fill out a form for AHPRA telling them what you'll be doing

who will support you, where you'll get teaching etc etc. Hospitalsign it you co-sign it

then it goes off to AHPRA (who incidentally will NEVER return any originals even

if it's your birth certificate - don't believe any agencies who say you can get it

back when you go there in person. It's not true (AMC however have recently

changed tack and are now returning stuff if you request it).)

 

Now mine had a mistake in it from the hospital which I had actually noted

(their answer to where I would get help when on nights seemed a bit weird).

AHPRA noted this and we had to resubmit the form (w/ 2 signatures etc) which added

another week to the process just for me and the hospital to triangulate.

 

Even with that issue I don't think it took me more than 3 weeks in total to get

the green light from AHPRA and I then flew out. The recruitment agency got me

picked up at sydney airport and took me straight to AHPRA HQ (pretty flashy building

too so you can see where your fees are going!) where I had to wait for opening time..

I must emphasise - You MUST do this in person with your passport. If you're working in Broken Hill,

you still must pass in person at the State office for AHPRA to get that sorted before you go out there.

There is no flexibility AFAIK.

 

After presenting in person it took I think less than a day to be rubberstamped and that was that (until your 3 month

evaluation thingy which is another box ticking exercise - basically UK trained medics are not usually a concern from

the clinical knowledge PoV or from the language skillsa).

 

Useful things I should have done and didn't:

- Pertussis vaccination (delayed me ).

- Proof of recent Rubella titre (I think it was that - my GP here helpfully did a full MMR screen which showed I had a low

measles response to I had to get a new MMR booster. So that delayed me even more!)

- Get Occ Health to give you a complete official documentation of all your vaccinations so far. My hospital wouldn't do this until I was

officially working for them and I couldnt' do that without being 100% cleared - and it's expensive to do this at your GP here)/

- Apply for reciprocal Medicare cover as you get off the plane at a medicare office. esp. if the above is going to be an issue.

 

What I did do right:

- I did IELTS and got a good score which can now be used for application for Permaneny Residency.

- Did not jump at the first job offered - recruitment agencies seem to get bigger bonuses for less attractive locations. They will push you

like hell to take them with the likes of "Just no other jobs available at the minute." pap. Also if you find out about a job they're not aware of,

don't do the nice thing and let them put you forward for it. In my case, I felt sorry they had put this effort in and would lose out a finders fee from me so

I let them put me forward for the job I had noted myself. Turns out they then grabbed everyone on their books to apply for the job too so they

would guarantee themselves the fee but made me lose out on the job (I got it later on since someone resigned and that's how I unveiled all

of their somewhat duplicitous behaviour).

- Move here. Much more time to study and rest.

 

 

That's a bit of a long rambling post - hope some of it will be of use to someone.

 

On a final note, when dealing with AHPRA, you should remember that australian trained doctors do not have as simple a task ahead of them

if they want to work in the NHS as I discovered from some of my colleagues. They have to pass PLAB and so on - the waiving of exams for

us is (as junior doctors) does not cut both ways so I think we should be grateful for the situation as it stands and be very aware of how

much harder it could be (and is for non UK grads).

[mgpant]

hi Nikopol

thanks a lot for taking the time to give a detailed record of your experience with AHPRA etc, its really helpful for us lot going through the process now.

[Guest NuriootpaSA]

GP position in Launceston. Must be RCGP,RACGP/RNZCGP and practicing in the UK NZ or Oz.

PM me for details.

[Muttley]

Hi

I am new to the forum and find it very helpful.Me, a GP and my oh, a Psychiatrist are moving to Brisbane.Just wanted to know if anyone had any idea of current timeframes for AHPRA processing. I have just got my RACGP fellowship and next step is AHPRA.

thanks

 

Hi there, has your partner completed their training?

 

We do have some Reg and Consultant jobs in Brisbane, PM me if of interest?

 

Think are really dragging on at the moment in terms of College interviews, AHPRA etc at the moment. Will you partner be on your visa / PR ?

[eggy76]

Hi all, a newbie here and also decided to take the plunge. GP moving to NSW, just got AHPRA approved but slightly annoyed as they gave me less than 3 months to register in person in Sydney (didn't see that coming and now panic mode!). And as I am pretty certain with most of you, we needed 3 months notice to resign from current job. Not sure how long you guys were given the lee-way. Perhaps record numbers of applicants this year I wonder??

 

Anyways, managed to persuade AHPRA to extend a little bit longer so cannot complain. Sooo deliberating handing in resignation though :-D this week.

[Janh]

Hello.I am a GP moving to Perth in 2 weeks.I didn't have to register in person but I think this is just a WA thing.I got the job in january and visa approval about 6 weeks ago.I resigned 18 mths ago and have been doing locums since-best of luck to you!!Good plan to leave NHS i think.Friend of mine has been GP in NSW for 9 mths now and she feels it is more than double the pay for half the stress.No home visits.Oh and MPS is much less!! lets do it!

[eggy76]

I meant liberating, god can't even spell! Good luck Janh hope all goes great for you. We will regret things we don't do, so as you say, let's do this!:yes:

[chrishorn]

Hi all,

I'm a GP who is planning on moving out to Oz at the start of April next year. I have a wife and two small boys and our aim was to go for a year (but with an open mind as to the possibility of staying longer). I've signed up to a few agencies, but whilst a lot of the feedback is encouraging and the job opportunities there, many of the practices want a minimum of 2 years commitment. Particularly in the bigger cities, like Perth, which is where we were thinking of heading. I think the cost of paying recruitment agencies is one of the reasons for this.

So, I wondered if I'd have more luck doing it on my own. I'd be grateful if anyone has any advice. Or better still, a job offer!

[DrNemo]

If you are going via an agency this will cost $30,000+ to the practice. Most states have a state gp recruitment site where practices can advertise for free. I would look on DNUK in the nz and oz forum for more specific advice.

[chrishorn]

Thanks DrNemo - good knowledge. That will cetainly make a difference to my job search! Regards, Chris

 

If you are going via an agency this will cost $30,000+ to the practice. Most states have a state gp recruitment site where practices can advertise for free. I would look on DNUK in the nz and oz forum for more specific advice.

[yasir457]

Hi Chris

 

I've been working in Perth as a GP since May last year. You can check the following link for job offers. It on AMA (Australian Medical Association) WA branch website. Their regular monthly magazine "Medicus" has lot of GP job adverts on the back (just like BMJ) though you need to be a member to access it.

 

http://www.amawa.com.au/recruitment/medical-practitioner-vacancies/western-australia/page/2/

 

All the best in your pursuits!!

 

Yasir

[chrishorn]

Thanks Yasir - I'll take a look. If you know of any job opportunities coming up, I'd be pleased to hear about them!

 

Regards,

 

Chris

 

Hi Chris

 

I've been working in Perth as a GP since May last year. You can check the following link for job offers. It on AMA (Australian Medical Association) WA branch website. Their regular monthly magazine "Medicus" has lot of GP job adverts on the back (just like BMJ) though you need to be a member to access it.

 

http://www.amawa.com.au/recruitment/medical-practitioner-vacancies/western-australia/page/2/

 

All the best in your pursuits!!

 

Yasir

[eggy76]

Thanks Yasir - I'll take a look. If you know of any job opportunities coming up, I'd be pleased to hear about them!

 

Regards,

 

Chris

 

just wanted to say welcome and wish you good luck! I am on the stage of visa application now, did/doing it all ourselves without any agent though I already got a job offer beforehand. We went out to NSW Australia (we had GP friends and other medical friends out there) for 2 weeks to check out the place last year and decided it was perfect for us and looked no further. More than happy to help if anything you wish to know/clarify because it can be a whole lot of information to digest on the web!