HEALTHY SITUATION: From left are Dr Pushpa Ravindranayagam, Dr Marta Siegel-Shumba and medical practice manager Shaye Metcalf. PHOTO: LACHLAN BENCE.
"BABY boomer" GPs could be the answer to solving the doctor shortage in rural Victoria, a district health leader has claimed.
Beaufort and Skipton Health Service practice manager Shaye Metcalf said her organisation was actively trying to recruit older doctors who were nearing retirement age by appealing to the lifestyle benefits of "winding down" in the country.
Currently one GP down, the practice is expecting another doctor to leave next year, leaving it with a total of just three doctors over its two campuses at Beaufort and Skipton.
Ms Metcalf said the service was in vital need of another doctor to fill its current vacancy.
Due to patient load stress, the difficulty was getting the right person for the role within a rural community, she said.
Ms Metcalf said she had been advertising for a replacement since May, but the practice was yet to source a suitable candidate. She said the service received a large number of international general practitioners, but in small rural communities the supervision requirements made it difficult.
"To put some of those in a rural or country practice really burdens the GPS that are here," she said.
"We are actually very keen to contact the 'baby boomer' GPs.
"A lot of them, have already been through the big practice groups ... they've done the hard yards."
She said the tree-change lifestyle and pace of work would be main factors in attracting baby boomer doctors to the region.
"The GP we aim to attract wants to work less days per week; who is looking for a model where we manage the practice leaving the GP free to practice community medicine; who likes the ideas of an integrated service model with allied health, hospital and aged care and transition care all at the one site," she said.
rachel.afflick@thecourier.com.au