Experienced WA-based UK expat doctor slams Government red-tape after 14-month wait to practice in South West

Regional WA is crying out for doctors like Britain’s Mark Wood. The 30-year veteran GP has moved here, taken out citizenship and has a job lined up. And, after a 13-month bureaucratic nightmare, he’ll finally be able to start work on Monday. But his approval to actually start seeing patients only came through after media inquiries to the Federal Health Department by The Sunday Times. This is despite Dr Wood being a former deputy head of the British Medical Association and member of London’s Royal College of General Practitioners. Now he’s calling for an urgent overhaul of the sclerotic process governing the recognition of much-needed overseas registered and qualified doctors wanting to work in Australia. The 58-year-old, who now calls Dunsborough home, has been trying to transfer his medical qualifications since November 2021 when he and his Australian wife decided to move back to WA’s South West. The year that followed was littered with red tape and frustration, as he sweated on whether he would get the green light before settling in WA. When he arrived here three months ago, it took less than a week for the Cambridge University-educated doctor to secure a South West GP position at Brecken Health. But red tape meant he wasn’t allowed to actually work, locked out of his profession for almost three months by what he describes as a “broken system” he believes should be overhauled. His CV lists his extensive experience in the full range of GP specialist skills including chronic disease management, child health, frailty, multi-system disease, men’s health, and minor surgery. In his role in the British Medical Association, he helped lead England’s GPs at a national level for six years — including through the COVID crisis. And by February, he was awarded permanent residence in Australia — but he still couldn’t practice. “A process that takes 13 months is broken,” he said. “It’s a process so convoluted and so chaotic. As someone caught in the middle of it you’re left thinking how Australia doesn’t want you. “I haven’t been half-hearted in my application, I’ve been absolutely all over it with documentation. It’s astonishing. It’s been an ongoing litany of disasters. I’m still excited in working in a new system. But they need to sit down and . . . sort it out.” Dr Wood said he felt in the dark along the journey, adding: “I couldn’t get an explanation at any point along the path. It felt very obstructive rather than helpful.” Dr Wood was a partner in a practice in the English south-west county of Devon. If he didn’t need to move to Australia to be closer to his wife’s family, who is a fellow GP, Dr Wood said he wouldn’t have bothered with the red tape. Amid an unprecedented skills shortage of medical professionals in WA that has crippled State hospital operations, State and Federal Governments are looking to international markets to hire. In June, Premier Mark McGowan travelled to Rome, London, Dublin and Doha in a recruiting drive for more than 500 occupations the WA Government has been desperately seeking to fill to address. He listed medical and healthcare as top occupations he was seeking to attract. “I’ll be giving this a big push and emphasising why Western Australia is the ideal place to move to,” the Labor leader said. But Dr Wood warned the governments that international doctors would look elsewhere, like New Zealand or Canada, to save the hassle. WA Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said the State Government was using all their powers to lure medical professions to WA to ease hospital pressures including lobbying the new Federal Labor Government. “We are doing everything within our remit to attract additional healthcare workers,” she said. “This includes expanding our skilled migration list for priority jobs to include 46 medical and health-related occupations for the 2022-23 program year and our Belong overseas recruitment campaign.” Department of Home Affairs data on temporary skills shortage visas revealed that between June 2019 to June 2022, a quarter of all resident medical officers who arrived in Australia on temporary work visas came to WA. State shadow health minister Libby Mettam urged the State and Federal Labor Governments’ to urgently tackle the issue. “Given the Premier has used a lack of GPs as one of the many excuses for the hospital crisis it beggars belief that the State Government isn’t doing more to ensure properly qualified medical staff are able to provide healthcare in this State,” the local Vasse MP said. “It is absolutely mind boggling that we are not seeing more collaboration between the State and Federal Labor Governments to address this unnecessarily cumbersome process which is preventing properly qualified health professionals from working in WA.” Dr Wood added: “The finding a job was incredibly easy — it happened in less than a week. But then came the negative experience of trying to navigate the registration process. He described the system as “chaotic and unorganised”, revealing a blunder between agencies had allowed him to see patients for two days last month before his accreditation was revoked and an apology provided. When asked about Dr Wood’s 13-month wait for approval, the Federal Department of Health didn’t refer to his case specifically, but said the standard timeline for an international medical graduate to gain registration as a doctor in Australia is estimated to be about four to six weeks. While Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency is the administrative agency for the process, overseas doctors are also required to complete comparability assessments through either Royal Australian College of General Practitioners or Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine. The additional assessment allows doctors to be registered to practice and is part of WA legislation, with equivalent laws in all other State and Territories. “This ensures people can be confident that the qualification of doctors have been properly assessed so that they can practice safely,” a Federal Health Department spokesman said. “Not all doctors have to undertake further training to become registered to practice in Australia, if they do, then this is due to requirements determined by the Medical Board.” A federal review, led by former NSW Health Secretary Robyn Kruk, was announced on September 30 and is looking into fast-tracking and smoothing pathways for skilled medical staff to work in Australia. Her report is expected to be delivered to National Cabinet in early 2023. Australian Health Minister Mark Butler said the review was evidence of continued work to implement priorities from the Jobs Summit. “The review will help increase the health workforce, reducing pressure on the health and hospital system. The review will not reduce the quality and safety of care for patients,” he said in a statement last week. The Federal Health Department spokesman said the Government was working on the issue through National Cabinet and the Health Ministers’ forum. “The Australian Government is working with State and Territory governments and AHPRA to ensure that they prioritise work to streamline and accelerate skills and qualification recognition for internationally qualified health practitioners, including international medical graduates,” he said. “The aim of these measures is to improve the timeliness of registration applications. The Australian Government funds a national network of rural workforce agencies, including one in Western Australia. “These agencies collectively receive over $20 million a year in public funding to attract, recruit and support more health professionals to work in rural and remote communities. The rural workforce agency in Western Australia is Rural Health West.” Dr Wood will still have to undergo six months of in-practice training through RACGP when he starts work on Monday. “I assume I’ll be quite busy my first week as I’ll be one of the few doctors in Busselton with an appointment available,” he said.