IN A bid to secure a doctor, a remote town is offering a lucrative package of perks including a monster salary, free house and added bonuses.
Quairading, a rural town in Western Australia, will give the successful applicant a £460,000 salary and a rent-free 4-bedroom house, but they are still struggling to fill the role.
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The small town is 170km east of Perth, and like many remote communities across Australia, they are heavily feeling the effects of a national GP shortage.
The 600 residents of Quairading have been desperately searching for a GP since their previous doctor left months ago.
They were in shock as a town just north of theirs shut its surgery doors for good after being unable to find a GP.
The demand is so high that the local government is also throwing in an added financial incentive of £6,900 if the GP stays two years and £13,200 if they stay five.
The old farming town is part of the Wheatbelt in Noongar Ballardong country and is known for its old hotel, railways and proximity to the Pink Lake and Mount Stirling.
Quairading Shire president Peter Smith told The West the council “will not stand by idle when the community has such a critical need”.
“If we don’t have a doctor, we won’t have a medical clinic, then we won’t have a hospital, we won’t have a chemist and so the demise will begin.”
Australia is expected to face a shortage of more than 10,600 GPs by 2031-2, according to the Australian Medical Association.
Between 2009-2019, the demand for doctors increased by 58 per cent as supply of GPs has been failing to keep up with the dramatically increased demand.
AMA President Professor Steve Robson said the issues were “unimaginable” and that their evidence showed the pressures on GPs would not ease.
Rural and remote communities have been the hardest hit by the shortage of doctors, and despite the attractive job offers, many towns are failing to lure in the much-needed medical professionals.
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