Incentive Packages For Locum Doctors 's Commitment
Junior locum doctors in New Zealand and Australia are being tempted to work in Southland
with $110 hourly rates plus perks such as free ski passes and return airfares, while permanent staff junior doctors are paid less than half that amount. An email, understood to be from a locum doctor recruitment agency sent on behalf of the Southland District Health Board, says it needs medical registrars from March to August and will pay $110 plus an hour. There were any times before when the same crisis took place in Southland.
Not only do the doctors get amazing benefits but they also get return airfares from anywhere in Australia or New Zealand. Even for those who don't like skiing there's a lot that the outdoors has to offer. The email says that the hospital will be more than willing to give you funds for Surfing, mountain biking, tramping, mountain climbing and kayaking.
The rate per hour can be negotiated. It was clearly mentioned by the Southland District Health Board chief operating officer that more junior doctors were needed by the hospital ASAP. They had gone to several agencies to see if anyone would be able to get them junior locum doctors for the rate of $110 per hour.
She did not really get too taken up by the idea that there would be free ski passes as mentioned in the email. The permanent doctors do not get paid as much as locum doctors said the New Zealand Resident Doctors Association secretary. For the 60 hours that a doctor works in the hospital he gets $25 and if he is experienced he gets $30 an hour.
When permanent doctors wok for over time they are paid $45 an hour. The Permanent staff was not even considered for the locum job.
Southland is shelling out a lot for locums. The permanent staff could have been the locum that the town needed.
Some of the union had even offered to the district health board their help but it was doing its own thing. Resident Doctors Association and district health boards had payment issues which were brought to the forefront by a member of Southland Hospital junior doctor delegate.
Attrition of the doctors was a major concern but not many people bothered about it. The managing director of the company says that had he not been bound by confidentiality rules he would have talked about this more.