‘It prevents us from doing roads, libraries, bins’: The shires spending up to 16% of their budgets on GPs
Local governments spending up to 16% of their budgets on GP recruitment want the Federal Government to cover the cost of direct cash incentives.
Six sparsely populated WA shires have brought a successful motion at the National General Assembly of Local Governments, calling for federal funding for the cash incentives paid to rural GPs, which can be hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The group, dubbed the ‘Local Government Rural Health Funding Alliance’, includes the shires of Gnowangerup, Jerramungup, Kojonup, Lake Grace, Narembeen and Ravensthorpe.
With about 8000 residents between them, all are classified as remote or very remote under the Modified Monash Model.
Collectively, they spent $1.4 million a year to attract and retain GPs.
“The cost is growing to the stage where it is preventing local government from doing things it is chartered to do: roads, libraries, community facilities, bins, parks and recreation,” Gnowangerup Shire president Kate O’Keefe told AusDoc.
Ms O’Keefe’s shire was offering GPs a car, a house and a practice building, along with a $250,000 payment.
Around eight years ago, the shire spent 2% of its revenue on health, mostly on the cash incentives.
In the 2023/24 financial year, that figure was 6.7%.
The Shire of Narembeen, with its population of just 787, spent 16% of its budget on its GP.
The alliance said the Federal Government could help through extra funding via its Financial Assistance Grant to Local Government scheme, which provided more than $3 billion a year in unrestricted funds.
Ms O’Keefe said the scheme already had the scope to cover medical facilities, but with a cap of $85,000, which was inadequate.
She said that, unlike city patients, her shire’s residents paid for GP care “in three ways”.
“They pay their Medicare levy, they pay when they walk through the door of the doctor’s surgery and then they pay through their rates for the incentives.
“That is not an issue for people who live in metropolitan areas or major regional areas.”
Minister for Health, Disability and Ageing Mark Butler said the Federal Government was helping rural general practice by boosting Medicare rebates and increasing funding for GP training.
“We know that people living in rural and remote areas face greater health challenges because of the tyranny of distance,” Mr Butler said.
“In 2025, a record 1750 offers are expected to be made to junior doctors to begin government-funded GP training because of our government’s investment.
“This investment is prioritising regional and rural areas, with half of government-funded GP training occurring in regional, rural and remote areas.”
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