Beat Medical Blog

Doctors dissatisfied with their workplaces turning to locum work

Posted by Beat Medical

It may not come along as a surprise to many, but according to a recent survey conducted by Beat Medical, the major reason for undertaking locum work is "dissatisfaction with the health system in my state".

Although we thought that "dissatisfaction" may be a major factor in the decision to become a locum, we also thought other reasons such as financial advantage, flexibility, travel, etc would come out on top in the list of reasons.

In some locations around Australia, doctors are rising up to take back control of their work - even to the extent of threatening to resign en masse. Recently, the ABC reported that VMOs in one hospital in QLD said they would walk out the doors in response to deteriorating standards, and the lack of employment agreements for over 18 months.

This type of situation is what is commonly reported to us by candidates working with Beat Medical as locums in emergency, general practice, anaesthetics, intensive care, and orthopaedics. Similar problems seem to extend to doctors working in all of the specialty areas we work with.

Based on our survey, the top 5 reasons for doctors working in locum positions are:

1. Dissatisfaction with the health system in my state
2. I am "trying before I buy" with potential employers
3. I am deciding on a specialty
4. Dissatisfaction with my current role
5. To supplement my regular income


Some interesting results - what are your thoughts? Click on Comments below.

National medical registration system struggling with demand from doctors, agencies, employers in Australia

Posted by Beat Medical

Following criticism levelled by doctors, medical recruiters, and employers, the Medical Board of Australia (MBA) is reporting that they are increasing their capacity.

After failing to respond to enquiries, poor response times, lack of available documentation, and serious mistakes when transferring information about practitioners to the new national database, AHPRA has advised that they are taking action on the emergent issues.

Representatives of the Board have said that: "AHPRA’s focus continues to be on boosting our enquiry response capacity and bedding down our IT systems. By early next week, we will have doubled the number of enquiries staff whose sole priority is to respond effectively to enquiries, in a timely way[...]".

As a medical recruitment and locum agency, we are very concerned that there will be serious after-effects from the lack of preparedness that the Board has shown in the roll-out of national medical registration. Not only are the phones left unanswered, the Board has failed to provide key forms, policies, and documentation to enable us to place doctors where they are needed as quickly as we usually do.

As members of the Association of Medical Recruitment Australia and New Zealand (AMRANZ), Beat Medical are contributing to assisting the MBA to bring their service to the standard expected by the healthcare industry, and the Australian public.

As an AMRANZ councillor, Beat Medical Director Shaun Hughston is playing a key role in exerting pressure on the MBA to meet the immediate demands of medical employment in Australia. We wish to assure our clients and candidates that we are the forefront of addressing the key concerns and issues surrounding the very tenuous implementation of national registration.

Have you had a problem with the new national Medical Board of Australia? Let us know... click on "Comments" below.

Down the rabbit hole - the curiousness of health services

Posted by Beat Medical

If you have experience in healthcare at any level - a clinician, manager, cleaner, administrator, window washer - you were most likely nodding in agreement with this fantastically written piece in today's Age.

As a medical recruiter, and (I am a little embarrassed to admit it) former health service manager, I can see some palpable parallels between working with the health system, and the absurd (but all to familiar?)  characters in Alice in Wonderland.

It must have taken a Mad Hatter to design the current system for working as a locum in one Australian state (....to remain nameless). Not only are locum doctors expected to read over 450 pages of policies, and complete hours worth of online learning - they are encumbered by their current employer's consent to work as locums in areas of critical medical workforce shortage. It's also not a walk in the park for the the front line rostering people, who are restricted in terms of how much they can pay locum doctors in accordance with arbitrary geographical zones (which seem as though they were decided upon at a health department tea party). Here is the crux - the people making these decisions, however well meaning, are often at a critically dangerous distance from the reality of health care 'in the trenches'.

What is the point of these polices? To provide better health care, of course.  I've noticed how well it has worked - have you? Well, maybe not.

The aim is, of course, cost reduction. There is a Queen of Hearts in every health service, exacting sharp fiscal control on areas she may or may not have any understanding of, and proclaiming "Off with their heads" at the slightest hint of dissent or creative thought. New health service managers are often given no training, no expectations, no targets to meet, except "reduce the budget".  When I started in a hospital, I felt like Alice, tumbling down a hole to who-only-knows-where, as there is only one way to reduce the budget - to reduce medical staffing. Trying to explain to a high level administrator that it is less expensive to pay our own staff slightly more to work unpopular shifts, than it is to bring in hundreds of expensive outside locums of questionable quality and skills was almost like putting my head through a wall.

More dangerous than the Queen of course, is the Cheshire Cat, the duplicitous sycophant whose sharp teeth are covered by a flurry of nonsensical and vexing arguments. These people are the worst enemy of medical recruitment - swiping away any attempt to boost staffing numbers, citing an endless array of policies, precedents, and alluding to the opinions of a distant CEO who is always at arms length. Here is a common scenario - we need a new emergency specialist. Can we advertise? "No, too expensive". Can we attend a conference to attract potential candidates "No, too expensive. Perhaps try a sandwich board in front of the train station". In their heart of hearts, they know it is less expensive to keep a position vacant than it is to fill it.

I can't help but think that we are compelled to reject the reality presented to us by the looking glass - now is the time to agitate, question the system, and find your way out of the rabbit hole. What do you think we can do to change the system? Is it too late to turn it around?

Alice: But I don't want to go among mad people.
The Cat: Oh, you can't help that. We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.
Alice: How do you know I'm mad?
The Cat: You must be. Or you wouldn't have come here.
Alice: And how do you know that you're mad?
The Cat: To begin with, a dog's not mad. You grant that?
Alice: I suppose so,
The Cat: Well, then, you see, a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad.

Beat Medical Hits The Mark For Quality

Posted by Beat Medical

Recently, Beat Medical gained approval for accreditation with the Recruitment and Consulting Services Association (RCSA), for the coveted Service Delivery Standard. This standard means that Beat Medical stands shoulder to shoulder with much larger medical locum and recruitment agencies in terms of quality - whilst still offering you the personal service you deserve.  

As members of the RCSA, and recipients of the Service Delivery Standard, we are bound by the code of conduct and a higher level of professionalism and service than non-members.

On the same topic, Shaun Hughston has recently been elected to the national council for the Association of Medical Recruiters Australia and New Zealand (AMRANZ), representing the interests of medical recruitment agencies and their candidates. Please contact Shaun to let him know any issues you would like brought up with the council.