Dr Joe Murphy is not like most GP trainees.    

He has access to annual leave, rostered days off, sick leave and even study leave, and his pay cheques come from the local hospital network not Medicare — even for the time he spends in general practice.   

That is because Dr Murphy is one of the first registrars in Australia to trial the much-talked-about ‘single-employer model’: a reform being touted as necessary to revive junior doctor interest in the specialty.

The Murrumbidgee Local Health District, in southern NSW, launched the pilot in February last year, paying rural generalists for their entire training period from hospital intern to new fellow.