Tasmanian public hospitals are spending millions of taxpayers’ dollars unnecessarily by using locums rather than rural generalists, doctors say.

Every other state allows rural generalists to fill shifts in public hospitals, says the Rural Doctors’ Association of Tasmania (RDAT), which estimates that a locum doctor costs $1,127,500 a year compared with $500,600 for a rural generalist. 

“Our modelling shows that the cost is more than double to employ locums to do this work as it would do to employ the rural generalist doctors that the state is now training,” said RDAT president Dr Ben Dodds.

“These funds need to be redirected to invest in a rural generalist doctor model, which will create a sustainable workforce from junior doctors through to senior specialists.”