Locum doctors offered more than $4000 a day to work in Geraldton emergency department

Locum doctors are being offered more than $4000 a day to fill vacant positions at Geraldton Health Campus, which has been plagued by staffing shortages. This comes after a leaked email from WA Country Health Service chief executive Jeff Moffet revealed the hospital was only able to fill 12 per cent of its emergency department medical roster with local staff earlier this month. According to a listing from online recruitment agency Zeep Medical, Geraldton Health Campus is offering a daily rate of $4240 for an emergency medicine consultant. Advertised as a 10-day contract, the successful applicant could potentially earn $42,400 for the stint. Several other Geraldton-based positions are listed on the Zeep Medical website, with callouts for consultants in obstetrics and gynaecology, community psychiatry and anaesthetics all offering applicants between $2000 and $3250 each day. Other listings for jobs based elsewhere in regional WA were also high — locum psychiatry consultants would be offered $2200 a day — but the Geraldton positions were the highest paid on the website. Rural Doctors Association WA president Dr Brittney Wicksteed said the $4000 a day pay scale was significantly higher than average, with the increased rate another indication of the severity of staff shortages at the hospital. “It is very normal to have locums as part of the daily workforce but I think the high daily rate is a reflection of their urgency to get staff in,” she said. “Because we haven’t been able to have any movement of staff from the Eastern States into WA at all, that has blocked locums who would ordinarily do a stint here. “There is a hope that when the borders open we do get some locum staff from interstate.” “As a short-term arrangement, when other avenues to access staff have been exhausted, we are offering incentivised rates for doctors to work in Geraldton ED and this is applied according to their level of specialty and experience, and dependent on the day and time of the shift,” he said. “The increased pay scales are a temporary solution to fill rostering gaps in the short-term to support our valued clinical team in Geraldton who perform essential services each and every day. “I acknowledge they’re performing the extraordinary in what are very challenging and unique times.” Australian Medical Association WA president Dr Mark Duncan-Smith acknowledged there were staffing challenges in hospitals across the State, but said shortages in Geraldton were of particular concern. “In December last year at Geraldton Hospital, they were only filling 60 per cent of the shifts (with local staff),” he said. “In January, it was only two to three out of 11 of the shifts that were filled before they had to seek external emergency coverage.” Dr Duncan-Smith said the inflated locum salaries were a “crisis management strategy” by WACHS, of which he has called for a major culture overhaul. “It is the long-term culture and morale problems which has meant WACHS is not an employer of choice for many,” he said. “The culture of an organisation lies with its board.” There remains concerns about the ability of the hospital and WA health system to manage a surge in the COVID caseload after the State border opens on February 5. But Dr Duncan-Smith said delaying reopening by a couple of months would not result in any significant changes to the State’s COVID management plan. “We are as prepared as we will ever be,” he said. “What we need to ensure now is that our resource are used to maximum efficiency and effectiveness.”