UK specialist agency for UK, Irish and New Zealand GPs

We are recruiting General Practitioners / Family Doctors from the UK, Ireland and New Zealand to work as GPs in Australia. Pay rates are very good – typically you can earn in the range of  $A240,000 (£117,000) to $300,000 (£147,000) per annum. We have jobs in and around all of the major cities – Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Darwin.

Our clients include all the main groups who run GP clinics across Australia as well as a large number of smaller, privately owned groups & standalone practices.

At any one time we usually have around 60 separate vacancies across the country

Australia’s medical system is publically funded and available to all residents and nationals. It is part funded by a 2% “Medicare Levy”, paid by all taxpayers as a supplement to their income tax. Primary care is on a fee-per-service basis (ie a payment is made for each visit to the GP by either the individual or, most likely, by the government). Secondary care based on a GP referral is free. As well as general healthcare, Medicare run several primary care initiatives to improve general health – asthma, diabetes, cervical screening etc. It’s a system which works well. With around 9.1% of GDP spent on healthcare, it does well by international standards. Life expectancy is better than Sweden, Netherlands and the UK.  Link for more info.

Australia is the 12^th largest in the world on current figures. It has a higher per-capita GDP than the UK, Germany or France.  And it is expected to continue to grow well – the OECD forecasts 3% for 2017, somewhat better than the UK’s forecast of 2.3% (OECD forecasts: Nov 2015). In part, this growth is based on a presumed bounce back in raw material prices. But it is also a recognition of some structural changes to the Australian economy – away from digging raw materials out of the centre of the country and more towards banking, bioscience, agriculture, IT & tourism.

From our own observations, cities & areas like Perth, Melbourne and the Gold Coast are growing quite strongly with new housing being built – which is what drives the demand for GPs

White sandy beaches and warm summer evenings. Plus great cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. A great destination in it’s own right for holidays, it is also a great place to bring up children or just to enjoy life. It’s easy to explore Asia from Australia – there are easy flights to Bali, Thailand, India, Hong Kong  – as well as New Zealand and even trips to Antarctica. And while it is a long way from the UK, the time differences are not as great as it might seem. In the Summer, Perth is just 7 hours ahead of the UK. Overall, Australia regularly tops the OECD’s better life index.

Primary care in Australia is both the same as the UK and yet very different. The clinical work is similar. But the way you are employed, the way you are treated by the health service (Medicare) and the way you are paid are all very different. You’ll be self-employed but working as a tied agent to one practice (or group of practices). You are there just to treat patients. There is very little form filling beyond patient notes and referrals, which are all computerised. You will be actively wanting to see patients each day. In short, you won’t be acting as a gatekeeper to a rationed health service. Rather you’ll be seeing patients according to their needs and treating them as far as practical within your practice.

We often asked how much it costs to live in Australia – particularly about the costs in Perth & Brisbane.

Perth has picked up something of a reputation for being an expensive city. Not only for apartment / house rental but also for food, transport and going out. This is not entirely fair as some things are cheaper over there than they are in the UK or Ireland. Nevertheless some areas of expenditure like house rental & eating out can be more expensive than the majority of the UK (these costs are more on a par with the south east of England) .

On balance though, with higher incomes and lower taxes than the UK / Ireland, you’ll be better off in Australia than here. Your income is likely to be around £150,000 per annum and tax rates are about 5% less than the UK – See note at the bottom of this page on Taxation.