Remote town offering £330,000 and free rent to doctor willing to relocate
Free accommodation, a car and a yearly salary of £330,000 – this is what a remote town with only 500 residents is offering to attract a new doctor.
Julia Creek, a small town in Queensland, Australia, is looking to replace its outgoing physician urgently.
Considering the package is about five times the earnings of an NHS doctor, it almost sounds too good to be true.
The only drawback? Whoever takes on the job would be the sole doctor in the remote area, with the nearest major city, Brisbane, a gruelling 19-hour drive away.
Prospective applicants must embrace searing heat and tropical insects as well.
The North West Hospital and Health Service is currently advertising for the role of a senior medical officer.
It had previously recruited Dr Adam Louws, in 2022, when the offer was a few thousand pounds lower.
He said: ‘My mother-in-law sent me a link to this news article saying, “the half a million dollar job that no one wants.”
‘My first thought when I saw it and I looked at it was, where’s Julia Creek?’
Before Louws arrived in 2022, the town had not had a permanent doctor for 15 years, with a roster of visiting physicians dropping in for short stays.
Janene Fegan, mayor of McKinlay Shire, which includes Julia Creek, knew that the town needed a good sales pitch.
She was involved in the local health service’s campaign that recruited the outgoing doctor and offered to promote the town again when the job was advertised in March.
‘We actually have a very, very good lifestyle and a very safe lifestyle,’ she said.
‘Yes, there is distance to travel at times, but how many people do you hear now wanting to escape from that and go off-grid?’
Fegan added: ‘You don’t have to stay forever. Just give it a shot.’
When the job was advertised in 2022, some health care analysts said the bolstered salary still was not enough to compensate for a solo doctor’s workload.
But Louws said working solo prompted him to learn medical skills that he would have sent patients ‘two minutes down the road’ for another practitioner to perform when he lived in the city.
He also fulfilled a childhood dream of learning to milk dairy cows.
‘The money is plenty. It is,’ Louws said. ‘One of the things that I think people don’t necessarily consider enough about this job is the other things that this town has to offer.’
Louws applied for the job three days after first hearing about Julia Creek, following study on Wikipedia.
Soon, he and his wife and four children were packing to move.
When he had been in the job six months, Louws said, he knew ‘nine out of 10’ people in the town by name.
‘It feels kind of like stepping back in time about 60-odd years,’ he added. ‘Everyone knows everyone.’
At the end of his two year contract in Julia Creek, however, the distance from his extended family had taken a toll and he plans to return to his practice in the city.
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