An Australian minister has launched a campaign to ‘steal’ UK doctors and other public sector workers by highlighting better pay and lower cost of living.
A delegation from Western Australia will visit the UK later this month to attract doctors, police officers and teachers with the promise of a better lifestyle Down Under, according to reports from the i paper and the Daily Mail.
Police and defence industry minister Paul Papalia, who will lead the delegation, will also emphasise Western Australia’s ‘array of housing choices and around 3,200 hours of sunshine per year’.
Mr Papalia said: ‘We are here to steal your workers by offering them a better life in one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
‘Our wages are higher and our cost of living is lower. Our health system is world class. You will be taken care of.’
The i paper reported claims that GPs can earn 82% more in Western Australia than in the UK. The average yearly earnings for all GPs in England was £111,900 in 2020/21, according to NHS Digital data. The job website Indeed lists the current average GP salary in Western Australia as only 20% more at around £136,400 a year.
A third of junior doctors are planning to work abroad over the next year, with Australia being the top choice of destination, according to a BMA survey published in December 2022.
This comes at a time when the number of fully-qualified GPs has fallen by 7% to 27,375 since 2016, while the number of registered patients at GP practices has increased by 7% in the same period.
Over 700 GPs left the NHS to work overseas between 2015 and 2020, according to GMC data.
Professor Phil Banfield, chair of the BMA council, said: ‘The UK Government’s catastrophic failure to reverse cuts to doctors’ pay and pensions has left the NHS perilously exposed to these kinds of tactics from other countries at a time when doctors and healthcare staff are in desperately short supply globally.’
The delegation, which arrives 25 February, will hold events and attending job fairs around the UK, in a bid to fill a shortage of around 31,000 workers in Western Australia.
A Department of Health and Social care spokesperson said: ‘While some staff will want to work abroad for a variety of reasons, the vast majority of doctors and nurses trained in the UK do go on to work in the NHS, which provides unparalleled progression in a world class healthcare system.
‘We are focussed on boosting staff numbers and ensuring the NHS remains a great place to work – we’ve launched our annual domestic campaign to recruit more care workers and we have over 4,800 more doctors and over 10,900 more nurses working in the NHS compared to November 2021.’
Absolute no brainer – why would any GP at the start of their careers stay? The NHS has been ‘stealing’ staff from all over the globe for years and then proceeded to treat them like fodder
I bet our politicians wont have the backbone to do or say anything about it!
NHSE and UK Government are giving GPs away aren’t they? No need to steal we’re being driven out of the country anyway. Don’t worry Australia there will be many, many GPs heading your way very soon.
Send them this way….
Wish I’d gone years ago.
Novel Solution: Improve UK T+Cs so that it’s not worth going.
Radical, I know, but….
WHY IS THE DAILY B’STARD COMPLAINING…..ACCORDING TO THEM GPs ARE SUBHUMAN SCUM SO WHAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH US ALL GOING…….LET THE DAILY TURD RUN THE NHS WITH IT’S GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA WING AND EXPERT JOURNALIST TEAMS ON BIG BUCKS SLAGGING OFF THE REST OF SOCIETY (WHO DO SOMETHING MORE CONSTRUCTIVE THAN WRITING SHIT ALL DAY AND DRINKING LATTES)…….
The government hates us and the bureaucrats uses us as scape goats. Let’s see what they are offering. This country is no longer GP friendly.
I left the NHS at the age of 55 to work as a GP in Queensland due to the intolerable conditions of the NHS. Best decision I ever made. The pay is better and you get paid for each item of service. There are no home visits. Most importantly, patients appreciate the service you provide, unlike in the UK. I have no stress from management responsibility unlike in the UK.I am now almost 62 with no plans to retire anytime soon.
Definitely recommend Australia. Absolutely brilliant place to work. Have friends from UK who stayed there after we left (worked there for 5 years) and are now working as consultants and GPs. They are all much happier in their jobs and have a much better quality of life both working and with for their families. Great job prospects as a GP there still. Yes you will need to work more rural and likely Western Australia to start but you can move to more urban areas after a while. It doest really look good for general practice as a viable career in UK in the next 5 to 10 years so why not try something new?
I worked in Oz in the early 90s at SHO / Resident level and it was a different planet. Respect, high clinical standards, good professional relationships, well paid (overtime!, no UMTs) and well-resourced. Visa programme lasted 12 months only: worst thing I ever did was to come home. If it had been now with Zoom / Face Time / Internet / cheaper travel, I would have stayed to build a life there. The NHS really has become a SH*T$H0W and will never recover. End Of.