00:00At 76, Wellington doctor Ian Spencer would like to be enjoying retirement, instead his
00:10workload is about to increase.
00:13His two fellow GPs are moving on, and he hasn't been able to find doctors to replace them.
00:18Emotionally I am very distressed at the thought of the possibility of what could happen.
00:24A similar situation is playing out in towns across western New South Wales, with around
00:2950 GP trainee spots going unfilled.
00:32There's regional pockets through particularly New South Wales and ACT where we don't have
00:37enough registrars.
00:39Last year Victoria announced a $40,000 cash incentive to attract trainee GPs.
00:45What we've seen in Victoria is they've absolutely turned it around.
00:49They've gone from not being able to fill their regional and their rural places to having
00:54an oversupply.
00:56And now Queensland has offered the same incentive for next year.
00:59If I were a GP trainee now, I would absolutely be considering moving to another state.
01:06That is going to give me an adequate level of funding for my training.
01:13This medical practice in Dubbo has closed its books to new patients, with doctors already
01:18carrying higher than recommended caseloads.
01:21Dr Chua fears with incentives to the north and the south of us, the GP drain is only
01:26going to get worse.
01:27New South Wales needs to seriously consider that we manage to top up our GP trainees wage
01:35to bring it to a level playing field as well.
01:40For now, there's no relief in sight for this medical practice.
01:43New South Wales Health has declined to say if there are plans to match the sign-on bonuses
01:48being offered to GPs by neighbouring states.
01:51Back in Wellington, Dr Spencer could be on his own by the end of the year.
01:56One doctor with 6,000 patients on his books.
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