Medical workforce survey shows rural still the poor relation

November 29, 2013

Medical workforce survey shows rural still the ‘poor relation’

The latest New Zealand Medical Workforce Survey shows some ongoing and worrying trends in the rural health sector, says New Zealand Rural General Practice Network chairperson Dr Jo Scott-Jones.

Workforce figures show that rural GPs are older than average, more likely to be International Medical Graduates (IMGs) and more likely to be male GPs than urban counterparts. There continues to be a significant rise in the number of specialists in New Zealand generally compared to GPs, says Dr Scott-Jones.

The latest survey reflects long-held concerns by the Network and the rural health sector for many years specifically the rapidly ageing GP population in rural, the inability to train, recruit and retain New Zealand doctors to the rural sector and the reliance on IMGs to fill the void, says Dr Scott-Jones.

It is pleasing to see there are more female doctors entering the workforce generally, although most choose to work outside rural, says Dr Scott-Jones.

The Medical Council of New Zealand 2012 Workforce Survey shows there is a higher proportion of International Medical Graduates (IMGs) in rural areas compared with urban areas – 54 percent of doctors in rural areas are IMGs compared to 38.7 percent in main urban areas. The survey states that this may reflect that rural areas are sometimes harder to staff, and so positions in these areas are more likely to be filled by doctors from outside New Zealand.

The survey shows there is a higher proportion of female doctors in urban areas compared with rural areas – 42.3 percent of doctors in main urban areas are female compared with 36.1 percent of doctors in rural areas. While there are more female doctors entering the workforce generally – 37.8 percent of the workforce overall in 2007 compared to 40.4 percent in 2012 - most choose to work in urban (42.3 percent) or secondary urban areas 41.4 percent compared to rural (36.1percent).

Overall, doctors working in rural areas are on average older than those working in urban areas – the average age is 48.3 in rural areas compared with 44.8 in main urban areas, the survey shows.

For the 2012 workforce survey, survey forms were sent out to 13,947 doctors with New Zealand addresses. Ninety-six percent (13,415) replied.

As at September 30, 2013, the Network was aware of 45 vacancies for permanent GPs across approximately 200 rural practices (22 percent). Of these vacancies 10 are deemed to be critical and two have been on the Network’s books for longer than three years.

The reasons for GPs leaving vary with 35 percent of the current vacancies being at practices which have a regular turnover of long term locums, 11 percent where New Zealand doctors have gone overseas to work and 11 percent due to practice growth.

ENDS

© Scoop Media