Medical Jobs New Zealand and Australia for Doctors

Why Australia and New Zealand for a Medical Sabbatical/ Locum post or Permanent Position?

Many doctors choose to work in Australia and New Zealand because:

Both are countries of outstanding natural beauty, cleanliness and also have an unrivalled climate.
Their health systems are similar to the UK, USA, Ireland, South Africa or Canada.
Both have excellent standards of clinical practice.
They have high salaries and offer an exceptional quality of life.
They offer the chance to experience a different environment, climate and culture.
Both are English speaking countries.
They offer great opportunities for postgraduate training and medical career advancement.
The cost of living is much lower than in the UK, USA, Canada or Ireland and so the average doctor's disposable income is often more than it would be in other countries.
Due to their demographics and geography both have temporary positions for doctors of most specialties available.
There are larges established communities of UK, South African, Irish, Canadian and American ex-pats living here already.

An Australian quasi-governmental survey once reported that there are over 3000 UK trained doctors in Australia and another New Zealand survey had indicated that there is over 500 UK trained doctors in New Zealand. This is a significant amount!

Reasons for this I will subdivide into those for all doctors; those for junior doctors; those for consultants:

Those for all doctors:

1.) Lifestyle - I won't list them here - but you must have heard them all by now:- sunshine, beaches, space, weather, outdoor life etc!

2.) Hours of work - I appreciate there has been significant changes in the UK recently with regard to this topic, but in Australia, most doctors work 38 hours per week and any time that they end up staying in hospital beyond this is paid at penalty rates (usually double). Due to the fact hospitals do not want to have to pay this penalty rate, doctors rarely have to work over 38 hours anywhere.

3.) General Treatment/ Recognition/ Respect - Most doctors in Australia/ New Zealand are treated as highly skilled professionals and not merely as 'public servants' functioning as 'cogs in a system'. It is my belief that market forces determine the 'worth' of any asset in a market and since demand for doctors of almost all specialties and seniorities outstrips their supply in Australia/ New Zealand, hospitals realize that they need to treat their doctors well to retain them. In addition, a significant proportion of senior management staff in hospitals and certainly all clinical directors in hospitals are doctors (not nurses/ allied health/ management background like is common in the UK) and so the interests of doctors are usually well represented at executive level in hospitals. As a rule, there is a much higher regard within hospitals for doctors and so maltreatment of medical staff by nursing/ administrative/ managerial staff is a rare occurrence.

Those for Junior doctors:

1.) There is a significant difference in the training opportunities for junior doctors in Australia/ NZ compared to the UK. To enter a specialty training programme, there is generally far less competition compared to the UK and the quality of the training is generally of an exceptional standard. As there are less people applying for registrar positions, you have a much higher chance of getting on to the training programme of your choice without the need for research, audit, publications, unaccredited years, etc.

2.) The hierarchical medical workforce structure common in the Northern Hemisphere does not exist as strongly here. Most junior doctors call consultants by their first name and there is greater autonomy and recognition of the value of junior doctors.

3.) Less years to become a consultant - In Australia, most doctors do their PRHO year, a single SHO year, then enter a 5 year registrar training programme and then are consultants. So in 7 years from graduation, it is possible to become a consultant and enjoy the freedom associated with specialist recognition.

4.) Less overtime abuse - doctors are not salaried in Australia, they submit a time sheet every fortnight with the hours worked (including any hours where they had to stay back beyond their rostered hours) and so claim every penny for every minute they work.

Those for Senior doctors (consultants):

1.) Private practice, Private Practice, Private Practice - Over 50% of Australians have private health insurance and this is substantially more lucrative than the public sector in either the UK or Australia. Most specialists do some private work - usually 2 - 5 days/ week in private and effectively charge at market rates for their services. The availability of private practice is largest for surgeons, procedural physicians, anaesthetists, radiologists, obstetricians but other specialists have significant opportunities too.

2.) Freedom to work across multiple institutions - Many Consultants work at more than one institution. The purpose of this is that they are effectively contractors and can share their services across hospitals so they are paid per session that they work and are not forced into non-paid services such as education/ audit/ committee-work unless they choose to and any such work is usually also remunerated at their notional rate.

3.) Less politics - my own experience has been that there are significantly less hierarchical tiers in the healthcare system and so initiating change in any processes is quicker and less difficult in Australia/ New Zealand. I have yet to hear of any hospitals restricting consultants from working at other institutions whilst contracted in Australia/ NZ.

4.) Again due to demand outstripping supply in most specialties, there are often more options for where to work and the increased freedom that this allows.