The surgeon who got away – the workforce lesson in cherishing what you have
Dr Nott has plans to bushwalk and learn Spanish but is still frustrated that he can't find a doctor to replace him at his rural practice.
Between learning the violin, bushwalking, mountain biking and Spanish lessons, Dr Matthew Nott’s retirement plans are coming together.
There is just one significant blot. After three decades as a country orthopaedic surgeon, he is struggling to find someone to take over when he leaves at the end of the year.
Practising in Bega, on the NSW far south coast, it is a problem common to many doctors, but particularly those rural doctors working in specialties where big cities, with their big tertiary hospitals, exert a magnetic force so hard to escape.
His frustrations are acutely felt, however, because he believes his succession woes could have been resolved if it was not for some bureaucratic management bungling dating back nearly 10 years.
