July 26, 2024 • 20 mins
An introductory episode to our Australia podcast series ‘Ticket to Aus’ providing information for GPs considering a move to Australia.
In this episode Ciaran and Thomas discuss current motives and benefits for GPs to move to Australia, along with critical insights into the healthcare system and what to expect.
This is the first of many podcasts to come so keep your eyes peeled.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Hello and welcome to today's MenloPark podcast episode.
We're moving slightly away from the normalseries of illuminating primary care.
We're actually going to bestarting a new series
with the help of ThomasTallis, the leader of our new division.
This episode is going to be all aboutintroducing you to that new sector
(00:24):
that we're going to be looking at,the new series we're going to be starting.
It's called Ticket to Oz GP's Guideto Working and Living in Australia.
Now, the purpose of this entire podcasttoday is going to be providing
a touch on key topics on what workingand living in Australia is like for GP's.
We want to basically put the word outthere, get some information out there
(00:46):
so that people can get more informationabout this.
We want to ask everybody to kind of check
our social pagesthat we're going to be on.
We've got Instagram, Facebook, TikTok.
We're also onthe main things like LinkedIn
for people to find out a little bitmore about future episodes in the podcast.
And each of them is going to delveinto different topics
to make the whole thing about movingto Australia much more manageable.
(01:08):
And Thomas will talk youthrough each of those.
I'd advise our listeners as well to stickaround until the end of this episode
because we'll be covering some bitsyou don't want to miss.
So without further ado,I'd like to introduce the sector leader,
Thomas Tallis. So Thomas,
if you could give some background
about yourself to our listeners, please,and thanks for joining me.
Thank you for having me Ciaran.
Hi everyone,
(01:29):
as Ciaran’s already said, I'm Thomas,
I've been in international recruitmentnow for the best part of four years,
working specifically within Australia.
And I've been dealingwith an awful lot of different health
care sectors, which has been great.
If in regards to work in Australia,it's allowed me to build up a lot of
good relationships and a lot of good
(01:50):
relationships with practicesand different clients that are over there,
which is always good,always great to be able to develop
your knowledge, workwith these people
and obviously learn from themat the same time as well.
In regards to working with GPs,
It's something that I've experience with.I've actually been helping a numerous
amount of GPs moving to Australia,which is great,
(02:12):
so I know the system incredibly welland I’m looking forward to be able to guide
a lot more of them into Australia.
Awesome. Awesome. Excellent.
Thank you for joining me againtoday, Thomas as I say.
So to give our listenersa bit of background,
it's no secret that there are
a lot of challenges within the health caresystem here in the UK, currently,
(02:32):
whether that's staffing,funding, financial pressures,
there's large backlogs, long wait timesand the infrastructure as a whole
I think to say it could do withsome attention would be an understatement.
So, you know, highlighting these issuesI think is really important.
As you and I have discussed priorto recording today's episode,
Thomas, and whether that’s salaries,finding work, work life balance,
(02:55):
there’s factors as well with people's health,like burnout, their own wellbeing,
progression and growthcomes into the factors as well.
And I think unfortunately we do speakto a lot of GPs who do feel undervalued,
hence why there is such a big
effort and a big amount of peoplelooking at moving
actually out to Australiaand changing all that side of things.
(03:18):
And there has been that change in themarket geographically because of that.
So what I'm going to do for our listenersbenefit, I'm going to just
mention a few things to Thomasand he's going to kind of lead
answering kind of frequentlyasked questions, that sorts of thing.
So without further ado, Thomas,can you give our listeners
some examples of some reasons as towhy GP's are actually
(03:40):
considering a move overseas,and to Australia specifically?
Yeah, I guess you'vementioned a couple there,
but I guess some of the biggest benefitsthat you've got,
motives if you will, you know, reallyare things like the earning abilities.
You know, GPs over in Australia,
earnings can vary, it does varydepending on the individual, the practice,
but also obviously the individual'sability and dedication.
(04:03):
But you know, GPsthat have got special interests,
GPs that are motivated, wanting to tryand you know, really kind of excel,
you know, they can earn an incredibleamount of money over their, you know,
GPs here in the UK, a lot of them are workingway over 40 hours.
So when you think about Australia,
that would then get classedinto the out of hours side of things
if they started doing anywherenear the amount of hours that they’re doing
(04:26):
And you know, typicallythat would end up seeing, you know,
GP's earning realistically around 300,well between three and 600,000
AUD per year, which is, you know, crazyin the grand scheme of things.
Yeah.
That kind of works outanywhere between about 157, give or take
and £310,000, obviously,depending on the conversion
(04:47):
which, you know...
Not to be sniffed at is it?
Yeah, it's a bit of a no brainerwhen you think about it from that respect.
You know,
the main thing with the earnings, that'sprobably the difference for GP's
is that rather than it being a set salary,
it does work outmore on a percentage basis.
So it's a percentagecut between them and the practice.
(05:08):
But even still
you tend to see the GP anywherebetween around 60 and 70%
going to yourself. The additional 40or 30 would then go to the GP practice
or the medical centre,purely just to keep it open.
Obviously that’s then for the equipment and things,and obviously
the running cost of the overall practice,
(05:28):
you know taking away from, or going awayfrom the earning ability,
as I mentioned, as you mentioned,that work life balance. So
you know typically, if they’re a GP,they would be doing anything between,
the full time equivalent
is 38 to 40 hours a week.
So very good, you know, work lifebalance in comparison to a lot
(05:49):
of GPs here in the UK that we speak to,
allowing them to spend timewith their loved ones, with their family.
But obviously enjoy the lifestylethat Australia’s got to give.
Being in that sunshine,being on those beaches, you know,
being around some of those national parksand lakes and things.
Yeah.
You know, which kind of knocks onto thenext benefit I guess, the quality of life.
And I know you've already brieflymentioned it but, you know, the Australian
(06:12):
quality of life is, you know, undoubtedly one of the best.
Well they’re renowned for it aren't they.
They certainly are,
they certainly are,and I guess it's an aspect
as we’ve already mentioned, living in the sunshine, you know having
for best part of 300 days, you know,3,000 hours worth of sunshine,
you know, it certainly plays a part.
(06:32):
You know, I know myself that, you know, whenyou’re driving to work on a on a sunny day
or you wake up, and yousee the sun shining, you know,
you feel a lot better than you doif it's a miserable, gray,
gloomy day that we havequite often here in the UK.
You know, on top of that,they've got great living standards.
So, you know,
I think there was actuallyone of their cities, Canberra,
(06:53):
which is their capital city, hasrecently been ranked the second
best city in, not just Australia,but in the world for quality of life,
Wow.
which is yeah, ridiculous.
It's crazy, and it's obviouslyappealing to a lot of people,
you know, it draws a lot ofpeople there for that reason
which, you know, is a no brainer,you know, really is a no brainer.
(07:14):
And, you know, without kind ofgoing through every single benefit
that there is, you know, I do wantpeople to still be able to reach out,
but you have mentioned obviouslyabout that, you know, appreciation,
and, you know, people being a little bitundervalued here in the UK, which
again, is another factor that we hear of an awful lot.
Yeah all too much unfortunately.
Exactly.
And in Australia they recognize GPs as avital role within the health care system.
(07:38):
So it really is one of those which,
you know, you're working with the practice.
As you’ve been able to tell, it works on apartnership kind of basis on that percentage.
So you are, you know,appreciated by the practice
and it's all, you know,providing an accessible and, you know,
high patient care for individualsand for local communities.
(07:59):
GPs are, you know, acknowledged for their
expertise and appreciation,their dedication and obviously contributing
towards a health care system,you know, whilst working within these,
you know, this health care systemin Australia which is,
we've already said, renowned.You know, great quality of care,
you know, very, very,very patient centered as we mentioned.
(08:21):
And you know, the Australian Healthcare system is one of the
the best across the globe,
for the way that operates, whichagain provides that better work life
balance, quality of life and everythingjust kind of leads into one which
I guess is very appealing for a lotof GPs at this very moment in time.
Not being an expert myself, Thomas,
I'll just ask as well for our listeners benefit,
(08:41):
is the Australian healthcare system purely private?
It's not like the NHS, is it?
It is, it is.
So it's purely private and privatized.
The majority of it is done through something called Medicare.
So Medicare was introduced into Australiain the early 1900s.
So it’s something that, you know,Australians don't blink an eyelid at.
They're obviously very, very well covered.
(09:03):
It comes out of their salaries
or national insurance, if you will,
the equivalent to their national insurance.
And it's not somethingthat they’re hugely out of pocket on.
It does depend on the Medicare coverthat they've got,
it depends on thepractice that they go to,
there are, you know, avariety of different practices,
by way of bulk billingor, you know, mixed billing, for example.
(09:24):
So it does vary, obviously,on that standpoint,
but, you know, individuals aren'treally out of pocket.
It is one of those which obviouslydoes work in, you know,
the patient and the GPs best interests.
Yeah,
Well I mean
like you say the quality of lifeand such, they must be doing something
right with the health care system.
You never really hear complaints about it do you?
(09:45):
Like you get all too often over here unfortunately.
No, no, exactly, exactly.Don’t get me wrong,
It is one of those, you know, you’renever going to find that everyone, you know,
finds everything perfect.
You know, I'm never going to turn around and say that,
you know, you’re going to go tosomething that's just going to
be, you know, absolutely perfect,but perfect doesn't exist.
You know, it's one of those someone'salways going to find something
(10:06):
to complain about, whether they’vegot the best of the best, so...
Yeah.
Excellent. Excellent.
So, thank you for covering that part Thomas.
So another thing that I wanted to ask was
Australia, at the moment
I think it's no secret that they arereally keen to get UK GPs specifically,
why is it that you're finding so many UK GPs,specifically, wanting to explore Australia
(10:29):
and what attracts Australia to our UK GPs?
Yeah, I guess as you mentioned,some of those benefits that we've,
that we've already said there about the work life balance, you know,
the whether, you know,the appreciation side of things
I think is very appealingto an awful lot of people.
But I think ultimately, you know,part of the fact
that the health care system is so good,they, you know, GPs can actually work
(10:53):
within these stateof the art medical centres.
So rather than it being GP practicelike we have here in the UK,
it is, you know, what we callkind of medical centres.
You know, they are state of the art,they’re the highly invested into,
which means that they've gota wide variety of different technology.
It allows people to then obviously developtheir skill sets as well
(11:13):
because a lot of the practicesthemselves will have,
you know, a lot of servicesthat they don't offer here in the UK.
So, you know, in-house imaging,things like radiology, things like
pathology, minor surgery for example,there’s allied health in the room next door.
And I've even had it beforewhere you've had, you know, blood results
that have been taken and returnedwithin the space of a couple of hours,
(11:35):
you know, maybe one or two hours,which is unheard of.
You know, we don't get thathere in the UK.
So it gives GPs that aspect of,you know, really being able to
kind of advance in their career, on top of,you know, the additional benefits
that we've mentioned.
But, you know, it realydose obviously appeal to,
you know, an awful lot of peoplehaving that cutting edge technology,
(11:55):
you know, literally at the fingertips.
Yeah. Excellent.
And from the work that you've been doingover the past few years, Thomas,
have you got any insights from GPswho have made that move?
Yeah.
So I guess the best insightsthat I've really had, you know, people
GPs always ask me, you know, isit really as good as they say?
(12:15):
And, you know, a lot of people say to me...
well, the answer tothat is, you know, yes, it is.
It really is as good as everybody says.
you know, the only catch... people say to me a lot,you know, what's the catch, Thomas?
And the only catch is that it’shalfway around the world.
That is the only catch.
By way of the system itself,
you know, it's a very,very advanced system.
(12:36):
You know, GPs have got the ability to advance their livesultimately, and their family's lives,
you know, putting a lot moremoney away, living obviously,
you know, in fancy houses, driving fancy carsand putting the kids into private school.
So, you know, it really is as goodas people say, as I keep on mentioning.
And the majority of them don'tactually come back to the UK.
You know, it's funny how many GPswill turn around to say, “okay, well...”
(12:58):
it's almost “I'll maybe go for a year,I'll maybe go for two years”
and, you know, five yearsdown the line, you know...
They’re still there.
They don't want to come back,as soon as they’ve had a taste for it,
and they've, you know, experiencedreally how good it is,
yeah, they don't want to come back,
you know, other then family,you know, they come back on holidays.
You know, they can potentially tryand keep things like their
(13:21):
register here in the UK
but the majority of them decide just to
stay in Australia and,you know, I really don't blame them.
Like I say it's just beingvalued for what you do,
having that old school respect...
Yeah.
...you know, for GP's
And yeah, you know it's,
it really is just like I keep on saying,it's as good as you keep on hearing
(13:44):
and that's why a lot ofpeople keep on going.
Well going off what you've saidthere as well, Thomas,
about the, you know, obviouslybeing halfway around the world,
plane tickets aren't cheap, so I supposepeople won't come back too often.
But what other practical considerationsare there in comparison to the UK?
Yeah, so in regards to the practicalityside of things, you know,
(14:05):
you still do you get your annual leaveand you still you still do a holiday
so you can still come backand see friends, see family.
You know, your friends and familycan also fly over to Australia, you know,
like you say, the plane tickets aren't thecheapest and it's not the quickest of flights.
It's not likeyou can just jump in your car
or jump on a planeand be there an hour later.
(14:28):
But, you know, practicality wise,you know, just like we say,
about obviously the schooling, about obviously,you know, families and things like this.
You are ultimately being ableto put yourself in a much better,
you know, kind of life and lifestyle.
Excellent.
And in terms of anything elsethat you think is worth our listeners,
(14:49):
well, hearing about or benefiting from,is there anything additional,
whether, you know, it's kind ofcommonly asked questions that you have
when you have conversations with peopleor with practices, anything like that.
Yeah, so I guess, obviously, you know,
a common thing that comes upis the cost of living side of things.
So, you know, the cost of living,if you compare the cost
of living in Australiato somewhere like the UK
(15:09):
whilst purchasing, you know, housesand groceries at times can visually look
more expensive, you know, you've got to barein mind that we're talking about an Australian dollar
to the pound, but visually things dolook a little bit more expensive.
But in the grand scheme of thingsyou're earning a lot more.
So it is one of those,it does cover people,
you know, it dose kind of coverpeople in that respect.
(15:32):
People have a lot more ability tosave up and obviously add savings.
You know, we've got docsthat we’ve placed the past that are earning,
you know, like I say,multiple, multiple, six figures.
They're buying six figure houses,you know, the driving around in,
you know, flash fancy cars
and GPs, you know, in Australia are in
that top 1% of earnersjust to throw that one out there as well, so...
(15:52):
Wow.
It's not like they’re, you know,as we’ve been saying, undervalued,
you know, they do have this elementof a bit more of a disposable income,
shall we say, from that respect.
Another side of thingsthat comes up quite a lot
is the registration, you know,how do we do things like the registration?
How do we do things like thethe visa side of things?
(16:14):
And that's somethingthat I've got experience with,
it’s something that I can guide youthrough, you know, step by step,
something that I’m happy to providemy knowledge and my experience on.
You know, I always have to say toeverybody, and I always do say to every GP,
I'm not a Visa agent, unfortunately,
but I have been in the industryfor long enough now,
working with different visas, thatI can give my assistance where possible.
(16:35):
But, you know,anything that I can assist with, you know,
we can put you in touchwith the visa agent that we've got,
who obviously can give you all theassistance and guidance that's required.
In regards to the registration itself,
I will throw out there that at the registration,
you know, it does come at a cost.
Just like everything in life, you have tospend money to accumulate money.
(16:57):
But that is broken down into stages.
So it's not something that, you know,people tend to say, you know,
is it something that they pay all at once?
You know, how are they going to fundsomething like that,
you know, all at once,and it's broken down.
So the registration can take time.
It does take, realistically, the best partof, kind of, nine months
to actually complete the registration,to make the move.
I tend say to peoplelets settle affairs as well.
(17:19):
So, you know,
let's give ourselves the best part of a year,or even a bit longer if required,
and you can break down the registrationcost across the space that year.
And in the meantime,if they are struggling for work,
you know, that's obviously where,you know,
the likes of yourselfCiaran come into place and...
Yeah.
you know could find them, obviously,some great jobs here in the UK,
to obviously help kind of fundthat, you know, in the meantime.
(17:42):
But, yeah, you know
in regards to the registration, as I say, that'ssomething that we can certainly assist you with.
So if you want to find outmore about that, please do get in touch.
From that respect...
I'm just trying to think of any other typicalquestions that really come up.
But, you know, I guess
other than things like, you know,the earnings, which we've covered,
(18:03):
you know, the GPsreally are making three times,
you know, the best part of three timesmore than what a UK GP would be making,
you know, that is factual,
there is the ability of obviously earningmore depending on the special interest
and the average workthat you pick up at the same time.
And, you know, that would impactobviously the working hours slightly.
(18:24):
But, you know,as I say, you know, a lot of GPs,
they’ll do that kind of 38 to 40 hours a weekand they'll walk out the door,
you know, they'll walk out the doornot taking admin work with them,
not taking, you know, hours and hours worthof additional work and stress home with them...
Going to the beach or something like that.
Exactly. Exactly.
Going for a barbecue on the beach, for example.
(18:44):
Yeah you know,
a lot of the admin work’s doneinside the consultations,
you know, the softwaresystems that they've got,
you know, allows you to actuallyget your tasks done,
you know, there and then, which is that which is great.
Excellent. Fantastic. Well, that's it, folks.
As you've heardoverall, Australia has a lot of standouts,
a lot of positives, and you can understandwhy it's so appealing to so many GPs.
(19:05):
So, Thomas, have you got any closingremarks for our listeners?
I guess, guys, if you want to hearanything else, please do get in touch.
You know, our details will be below.
So we'd love to speak to you.
And you know, overall,
you know, Australia has got,you know, some awesome opportunities.
We've got some great opportunitiesthat we can,
you know, kind of put you in touch with,
give you that ability to speak to a few ofthe GPs, as well, in other practices,
(19:27):
you know, find out a littlebit more about, obviously,
you know, what working there would be like.
And if you want to discuss the,you know, how we can advance
your career in Australia,as I keep saying, get in touch.
Absolutely.
And also make sure that you stay tunedto all our social channels,
to listen up for more episodes in this seriesthat Thomas is going to be heading up.
(19:47):
So once again, just to remind people,the title of that is going to be
Ticket to Oz, GPs Guideto Working and Living in Australia.
So keep your eyes peeled for more on that.
But for now, thank youeverybody for tuning in and listening.
And as I say, you can follow uson all of our social channels and pages as well
Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, all of those.
(20:08):
Thanks very much for joining metoday, Thomas.
I look forward to seeinghow the rest of the series goes.
Thank you very much for having me.Thank you all for listening as well.
My pleasure.
And we will be in touch.
Hello and welcome to today's MenloPark podcast episode.
We're moving slightly away from the normalseries of illuminating primary care.
We're actually going to bestarting a new series
with the help of ThomasTallis, the leader of our new division.
This episode is going to be all aboutintroducing you to that new sector
(00:24):
that we're going to be looking at,the new series we're going to be starting.
It's called Ticket to Oz GP's Guideto Working and Living in Australia.
Now, the purpose of this entire podcasttoday is going to be providing
a touch on key topics on what workingand living in Australia is like for GP's.
We want to basically put the word outthere, get some information out there
(00:46):
so that people can get more informationabout this.
We want to ask everybody to kind of check
our social pagesthat we're going to be on.
We've got Instagram, Facebook, TikTok.
We're also onthe main things like LinkedIn
for people to find out a little bitmore about future episodes in the podcast.
And each of them is going to delveinto different topics
to make the whole thing about movingto Australia much more manageable.
(01:08):
And Thomas will talk youthrough each of those.
I'd advise our listeners as well to stickaround until the end of this episode
because we'll be covering some bitsyou don't want to miss.
So without further ado,I'd like to introduce the sector leader,
Thomas Tallis. So Thomas,
if you could give some background
about yourself to our listeners, please,and thanks for joining me.
Thank you for having me Ciaran.
Hi everyone,
(01:29):
as Ciaran’s already said, I'm Thomas,
I've been in international recruitmentnow for the best part of four years,
working specifically within Australia.
And I've been dealingwith an awful lot of different health
care sectors, which has been great.
If in regards to work in Australia,it's allowed me to build up a lot of
good relationships and a lot of good
(01:50):
relationships with practicesand different clients that are over there,
which is always good,always great to be able to develop
your knowledge, workwith these people
and obviously learn from themat the same time as well.
In regards to working with GPs,
It's something that I've experience with.I've actually been helping a numerous
amount of GPs moving to Australia,which is great,
(02:12):
so I know the system incredibly welland I’m looking forward to be able to guide
a lot more of them into Australia.
Awesome. Awesome. Excellent.
Thank you for joining me againtoday, Thomas as I say.
So to give our listenersa bit of background,
it's no secret that there are
a lot of challenges within the health caresystem here in the UK, currently,
(02:32):
whether that's staffing,funding, financial pressures,
there's large backlogs, long wait timesand the infrastructure as a whole
I think to say it could do withsome attention would be an understatement.
So, you know, highlighting these issuesI think is really important.
As you and I have discussed priorto recording today's episode,
Thomas, and whether that’s salaries,finding work, work life balance,
(02:55):
there’s factors as well with people's health,like burnout, their own wellbeing,
progression and growthcomes into the factors as well.
And I think unfortunately we do speakto a lot of GPs who do feel undervalued,
hence why there is such a big
effort and a big amount of peoplelooking at moving
actually out to Australiaand changing all that side of things.
(03:18):
And there has been that change in themarket geographically because of that.
So what I'm going to do for our listenersbenefit, I'm going to just
mention a few things to Thomasand he's going to kind of lead
answering kind of frequentlyasked questions, that sorts of thing.
So without further ado, Thomas,can you give our listeners
some examples of some reasons as towhy GP's are actually
(03:40):
considering a move overseas,and to Australia specifically?
Yeah, I guess you'vementioned a couple there,
but I guess some of the biggest benefitsthat you've got,
motives if you will, you know, reallyare things like the earning abilities.
You know, GPs over in Australia,
earnings can vary, it does varydepending on the individual, the practice,
but also obviously the individual'sability and dedication.
(04:03):
But you know, GPsthat have got special interests,
GPs that are motivated, wanting to tryand you know, really kind of excel,
you know, they can earn an incredibleamount of money over their, you know,
GPs here in the UK, a lot of them are workingway over 40 hours.
So when you think about Australia,
that would then get classedinto the out of hours side of things
if they started doing anywherenear the amount of hours that they’re doing
(04:26):
And you know, typicallythat would end up seeing, you know,
GP's earning realistically around 300,well between three and 600,000
AUD per year, which is, you know, crazyin the grand scheme of things.
Yeah.
That kind of works outanywhere between about 157, give or take
and £310,000, obviously,depending on the conversion
(04:47):
which, you know...
Not to be sniffed at is it?
Yeah, it's a bit of a no brainerwhen you think about it from that respect.
You know,
the main thing with the earnings, that'sprobably the difference for GP's
is that rather than it being a set salary,
it does work outmore on a percentage basis.
So it's a percentagecut between them and the practice.
(05:08):
But even still
you tend to see the GP anywherebetween around 60 and 70%
going to yourself. The additional 40or 30 would then go to the GP practice
or the medical centre,purely just to keep it open.
Obviously that’s then for the equipment and things,and obviously
the running cost of the overall practice,
(05:28):
you know taking away from, or going awayfrom the earning ability,
as I mentioned, as you mentioned,that work life balance. So
you know typically, if they’re a GP,they would be doing anything between,
the full time equivalent
is 38 to 40 hours a week.
So very good, you know, work lifebalance in comparison to a lot
(05:49):
of GPs here in the UK that we speak to,
allowing them to spend timewith their loved ones, with their family.
But obviously enjoy the lifestylethat Australia’s got to give.
Being in that sunshine,being on those beaches, you know,
being around some of those national parksand lakes and things.
Yeah.
You know, which kind of knocks onto thenext benefit I guess, the quality of life.
And I know you've already brieflymentioned it but, you know, the Australian
(06:12):
quality of life is, you know, undoubtedly one of the best.
Well they’re renowned for it aren't they.
They certainly are,
they certainly are,and I guess it's an aspect
as we’ve already mentioned, living in the sunshine, you know having
for best part of 300 days, you know,3,000 hours worth of sunshine,
you know, it certainly plays a part.
(06:32):
You know, I know myself that, you know, whenyou’re driving to work on a on a sunny day
or you wake up, and yousee the sun shining, you know,
you feel a lot better than you doif it's a miserable, gray,
gloomy day that we havequite often here in the UK.
You know, on top of that,they've got great living standards.
So, you know,
I think there was actuallyone of their cities, Canberra,
(06:53):
which is their capital city, hasrecently been ranked the second
best city in, not just Australia,but in the world for quality of life,
Wow.
which is yeah, ridiculous.
It's crazy, and it's obviouslyappealing to a lot of people,
you know, it draws a lot ofpeople there for that reason
which, you know, is a no brainer,you know, really is a no brainer.
(07:14):
And, you know, without kind ofgoing through every single benefit
that there is, you know, I do wantpeople to still be able to reach out,
but you have mentioned obviouslyabout that, you know, appreciation,
and, you know, people being a little bitundervalued here in the UK, which
again, is another factor that we hear of an awful lot.
Yeah all too much unfortunately.
Exactly.
And in Australia they recognize GPs as avital role within the health care system.
(07:38):
So it really is one of those which,
you know, you're working with the practice.
As you’ve been able to tell, it works on apartnership kind of basis on that percentage.
So you are, you know,appreciated by the practice
and it's all, you know,providing an accessible and, you know,
high patient care for individualsand for local communities.
(07:59):
GPs are, you know, acknowledged for their
expertise and appreciation,their dedication and obviously contributing
towards a health care system,you know, whilst working within these,
you know, this health care systemin Australia which is,
we've already said, renowned.You know, great quality of care,
you know, very, very,very patient centered as we mentioned.
(08:21):
And you know, the Australian Healthcare system is one of the
the best across the globe,
for the way that operates, whichagain provides that better work life
balance, quality of life and everythingjust kind of leads into one which
I guess is very appealing for a lotof GPs at this very moment in time.
Not being an expert myself, Thomas,
I'll just ask as well for our listeners benefit,
(08:41):
is the Australian healthcare system purely private?
It's not like the NHS, is it?
It is, it is.
So it's purely private and privatized.
The majority of it is done through something called Medicare.
So Medicare was introduced into Australiain the early 1900s.
So it’s something that, you know,Australians don't blink an eyelid at.
They're obviously very, very well covered.
(09:03):
It comes out of their salaries
or national insurance, if you will,
the equivalent to their national insurance.
And it's not somethingthat they’re hugely out of pocket on.
It does depend on the Medicare coverthat they've got,
it depends on thepractice that they go to,
there are, you know, avariety of different practices,
by way of bulk billingor, you know, mixed billing, for example.
(09:24):
So it does vary, obviously,on that standpoint,
but, you know, individuals aren'treally out of pocket.
It is one of those which obviouslydoes work in, you know,
the patient and the GPs best interests.
Yeah,
Well I mean
like you say the quality of lifeand such, they must be doing something
right with the health care system.
You never really hear complaints about it do you?
(09:45):
Like you get all too often over here unfortunately.
No, no, exactly, exactly.Don’t get me wrong,
It is one of those, you know, you’renever going to find that everyone, you know,
finds everything perfect.
You know, I'm never going to turn around and say that,
you know, you’re going to go tosomething that's just going to
be, you know, absolutely perfect,but perfect doesn't exist.
You know, it's one of those someone'salways going to find something
(10:06):
to complain about, whether they’vegot the best of the best, so...
Yeah.
Excellent. Excellent.
So, thank you for covering that part Thomas.
So another thing that I wanted to ask was
Australia, at the moment
I think it's no secret that they arereally keen to get UK GPs specifically,
why is it that you're finding so many UK GPs,specifically, wanting to explore Australia
(10:29):
and what attracts Australia to our UK GPs?
Yeah, I guess as you mentioned,some of those benefits that we've,
that we've already said there about the work life balance, you know,
the whether, you know,the appreciation side of things
I think is very appealingto an awful lot of people.
But I think ultimately, you know,part of the fact
that the health care system is so good,they, you know, GPs can actually work
(10:53):
within these stateof the art medical centres.
So rather than it being GP practicelike we have here in the UK,
it is, you know, what we callkind of medical centres.
You know, they are state of the art,they’re the highly invested into,
which means that they've gota wide variety of different technology.
It allows people to then obviously developtheir skill sets as well
(11:13):
because a lot of the practicesthemselves will have,
you know, a lot of servicesthat they don't offer here in the UK.
So, you know, in-house imaging,things like radiology, things like
pathology, minor surgery for example,there’s allied health in the room next door.
And I've even had it beforewhere you've had, you know, blood results
that have been taken and returnedwithin the space of a couple of hours,
(11:35):
you know, maybe one or two hours,which is unheard of.
You know, we don't get thathere in the UK.
So it gives GPs that aspect of,you know, really being able to
kind of advance in their career, on top of,you know, the additional benefits
that we've mentioned.
But, you know, it realydose obviously appeal to,
you know, an awful lot of peoplehaving that cutting edge technology,
(11:55):
you know, literally at the fingertips.
Yeah. Excellent.
And from the work that you've been doingover the past few years, Thomas,
have you got any insights from GPswho have made that move?
Yeah.
So I guess the best insightsthat I've really had, you know, people
GPs always ask me, you know, isit really as good as they say?
(12:15):
And, you know, a lot of people say to me...
well, the answer tothat is, you know, yes, it is.
It really is as good as everybody says.
you know, the only catch... people say to me a lot,you know, what's the catch, Thomas?
And the only catch is that it’shalfway around the world.
That is the only catch.
By way of the system itself,
you know, it's a very,very advanced system.
(12:36):
You know, GPs have got the ability to advance their livesultimately, and their family's lives,
you know, putting a lot moremoney away, living obviously,
you know, in fancy houses, driving fancy carsand putting the kids into private school.
So, you know, it really is as goodas people say, as I keep on mentioning.
And the majority of them don'tactually come back to the UK.
You know, it's funny how many GPswill turn around to say, “okay, well...”
(12:58):
it's almost “I'll maybe go for a year,I'll maybe go for two years”
and, you know, five yearsdown the line, you know...
They’re still there.
They don't want to come back,as soon as they’ve had a taste for it,
and they've, you know, experiencedreally how good it is,
yeah, they don't want to come back,
you know, other then family,you know, they come back on holidays.
You know, they can potentially tryand keep things like their
(13:21):
register here in the UK
but the majority of them decide just to
stay in Australia and,you know, I really don't blame them.
Like I say it's just beingvalued for what you do,
having that old school respect...
Yeah.
...you know, for GP's
And yeah, you know it's,
it really is just like I keep on saying,it's as good as you keep on hearing
(13:44):
and that's why a lot ofpeople keep on going.
Well going off what you've saidthere as well, Thomas,
about the, you know, obviouslybeing halfway around the world,
plane tickets aren't cheap, so I supposepeople won't come back too often.
But what other practical considerationsare there in comparison to the UK?
Yeah, so in regards to the practicalityside of things, you know,
(14:05):
you still do you get your annual leaveand you still you still do a holiday
so you can still come backand see friends, see family.
You know, your friends and familycan also fly over to Australia, you know,
like you say, the plane tickets aren't thecheapest and it's not the quickest of flights.
It's not likeyou can just jump in your car
or jump on a planeand be there an hour later.
(14:28):
But, you know, practicality wise,you know, just like we say,
about obviously the schooling, about obviously,you know, families and things like this.
You are ultimately being ableto put yourself in a much better,
you know, kind of life and lifestyle.
Excellent.
And in terms of anything elsethat you think is worth our listeners,
(14:49):
well, hearing about or benefiting from,is there anything additional,
whether, you know, it's kind ofcommonly asked questions that you have
when you have conversations with peopleor with practices, anything like that.
Yeah, so I guess, obviously, you know,
a common thing that comes upis the cost of living side of things.
So, you know, the cost of living,if you compare the cost
of living in Australiato somewhere like the UK
(15:09):
whilst purchasing, you know, housesand groceries at times can visually look
more expensive, you know, you've got to barein mind that we're talking about an Australian dollar
to the pound, but visually things dolook a little bit more expensive.
But in the grand scheme of thingsyou're earning a lot more.
So it is one of those,it does cover people,
you know, it dose kind of coverpeople in that respect.
(15:32):
People have a lot more ability tosave up and obviously add savings.
You know, we've got docsthat we’ve placed the past that are earning,
you know, like I say,multiple, multiple, six figures.
They're buying six figure houses,you know, the driving around in,
you know, flash fancy cars
and GPs, you know, in Australia are in
that top 1% of earnersjust to throw that one out there as well, so...
(15:52):
Wow.
It's not like they’re, you know,as we’ve been saying, undervalued,
you know, they do have this elementof a bit more of a disposable income,
shall we say, from that respect.
Another side of thingsthat comes up quite a lot
is the registration, you know,how do we do things like the registration?
How do we do things like thethe visa side of things?
(16:14):
And that's somethingthat I've got experience with,
it’s something that I can guide youthrough, you know, step by step,
something that I’m happy to providemy knowledge and my experience on.
You know, I always have to say toeverybody, and I always do say to every GP,
I'm not a Visa agent, unfortunately,
but I have been in the industryfor long enough now,
working with different visas, thatI can give my assistance where possible.
(16:35):
But, you know,anything that I can assist with, you know,
we can put you in touchwith the visa agent that we've got,
who obviously can give you all theassistance and guidance that's required.
In regards to the registration itself,
I will throw out there that at the registration,
you know, it does come at a cost.
Just like everything in life, you have tospend money to accumulate money.
(16:57):
But that is broken down into stages.
So it's not something that, you know,people tend to say, you know,
is it something that they pay all at once?
You know, how are they going to fundsomething like that,
you know, all at once,and it's broken down.
So the registration can take time.
It does take, realistically, the best partof, kind of, nine months
to actually complete the registration,to make the move.
I tend say to peoplelets settle affairs as well.
(17:19):
So, you know,
let's give ourselves the best part of a year,or even a bit longer if required,
and you can break down the registrationcost across the space that year.
And in the meantime,if they are struggling for work,
you know, that's obviously where,you know,
the likes of yourselfCiaran come into place and...
Yeah.
you know could find them, obviously,some great jobs here in the UK,
to obviously help kind of fundthat, you know, in the meantime.
(17:42):
But, yeah, you know
in regards to the registration, as I say, that'ssomething that we can certainly assist you with.
So if you want to find outmore about that, please do get in touch.
From that respect...
I'm just trying to think of any other typicalquestions that really come up.
But, you know, I guess
other than things like, you know,the earnings, which we've covered,
(18:03):
you know, the GPsreally are making three times,
you know, the best part of three timesmore than what a UK GP would be making,
you know, that is factual,
there is the ability of obviously earningmore depending on the special interest
and the average workthat you pick up at the same time.
And, you know, that would impactobviously the working hours slightly.
(18:24):
But, you know,as I say, you know, a lot of GPs,
they’ll do that kind of 38 to 40 hours a weekand they'll walk out the door,
you know, they'll walk out the doornot taking admin work with them,
not taking, you know, hours and hours worthof additional work and stress home with them...
Going to the beach or something like that.
Exactly. Exactly.
Going for a barbecue on the beach, for example.
(18:44):
Yeah you know,
a lot of the admin work’s doneinside the consultations,
you know, the softwaresystems that they've got,
you know, allows you to actuallyget your tasks done,
you know, there and then, which is that which is great.
Excellent. Fantastic. Well, that's it, folks.
As you've heardoverall, Australia has a lot of standouts,
a lot of positives, and you can understandwhy it's so appealing to so many GPs.
(19:05):
So, Thomas, have you got any closingremarks for our listeners?
I guess, guys, if you want to hearanything else, please do get in touch.
You know, our details will be below.
So we'd love to speak to you.
And you know, overall,
you know, Australia has got,you know, some awesome opportunities.
We've got some great opportunitiesthat we can,
you know, kind of put you in touch with,
give you that ability to speak to a few ofthe GPs, as well, in other practices,
(19:27):
you know, find out a littlebit more about, obviously,
you know, what working there would be like.
And if you want to discuss the,you know, how we can advance
your career in Australia,as I keep saying, get in touch.
Absolutely.
And also make sure that you stay tunedto all our social channels,
to listen up for more episodes in this seriesthat Thomas is going to be heading up.
(19:47):
So once again, just to remind people,the title of that is going to be
Ticket to Oz, GPs Guideto Working and Living in Australia.
So keep your eyes peeled for more on that.
But for now, thank youeverybody for tuning in and listening.
And as I say, you can follow uson all of our social channels and pages as well
Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, all of those.
(20:08):
Thanks very much for joining metoday, Thomas.
I look forward to seeinghow the rest of the series goes.
Thank you very much for having me.Thank you all for listening as well.
My pleasure.
And we will be in touch.
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