These are some things for you to bear in mind.

1.  GPs are private operators. Governments and politicians can’t tell them where to work.
2. Not every doctor can work as a GP. GPs have special training in family medicine.
3. Doctors from overseas go through a rigorous assessment process by experienced Tasmanian GPs before they are allowed to work as a GP. This is to promote community safety.
4. To maintain their medical registration overseas trained GPs are required to attain Australian qualifications within a specified period. They receive educational assistance tailored to meet their individual learning needs.
5. A GP practice is essentially a small business. The profitability of services dictates how, where and what services are provided. Some small communities are financially unviable for GPs- there are simply not enough patients for a resident GP to earn a decent living.
6. GPs, like other business owners, have “commercial” interests that they need to protect.
7. Some services are less financially rewarding to GPs than others. This is why there is a trend away from nursing home visits, mental health services, and end-of-life palliative care.
8. A busy and financially astute full-time rural GP providing hospital services, and utlising all financial incentives, can earn over $250,000 a year (before income tax). However these doctors may feel “under paid” when they compare themselves with specialist colleagues in the cities who can earn much more. The issue therefore is not whether doctors receive adequate pay to meet their financial needs but more whether they are receiving “fair pay” when compared with other doctors.
9. More money will not in itself make rural doctors happier and inclined to stay in a rural locality- but it won’t hurt either!
10. GPs are the medical workforce in rural hospitals. If you do not have continuity of GP cover then you do not have a hospital. The cover has to be around the clock, 365 days/year.
11. It is unsafe to have hospital inpatients without adequate GP medical cover. Health administrators have a legal and moral obligation to put the rural hospital "on by-pass" in these circumstances.
12. At times rural hospitals across Tasmania have closed temporarily due to GP shortages. The risk of permanent closure of hospital beds is high given the extent of GP and nurse shortages anticipated. We need to move beyond the current thinking that says “there must be a doctor and a hospital bed or nothing”. Strong rural health services can be provided even if a local doctor is not available all the time.
13. Suitable experienced doctors are in very short supply and therefore they can pick and choose where they work. This means that communities have to compete to attract doctors. Often this comes down to who has “the deepest pockets”.
14. Most developed countries in the world are crying out for GPs. This means that there is an international market for doctors. Rural communities are competing with other rural communities in Tasmania, states are competing to attract GPs, and countries are also in competition.
15. Most medical specialties are in short supply and therefore compete with general practice for entrants. If you could earn $250,000 a year as a rural GP or much more as a city specialist which would you choose?
16. Virtually every developed country in the world is facing the same crisis- an ageing population at a time of serious doctor and/or nurse shortages. You could view this as the “perfect storm” conditions. Shortages will ultimately affect urban areas as well as rural communities.
17. People living in parts of Hobart and Launceston are soon to experience the same difficulty in accessing GPs as the rural parts of the State.