3 is the magic number

04 Feb 2022

Exciting times are afoot as the 1Medical GP Team sees the arrival of a familiar face – Verity Batt. With a decade of incredible GP market experience, Verity will soon be assisting GP’s again with work options for locum work across Australia. For Verity it may well be in her blood as her family consists of several rural generalist doctors including her father, Dr David Batt, a well-respected GP Obstetrician hailing from Victor Harbor, South Australia. Verity has been out of the market for a short time with the birth of her second child Ellie during 2021. This addition takes the 1Medical GP Team to a total of three and strengthens our ability to deliver GP across Australia, from regional emergency medicine departments to solo doctor towns. Joshua Lees, who oversees the team, has spent the last year developing Nik Kalikajaros into becoming a successful GP recruiter. Joshua and Verity have previously worked together meaning no time will wasted in getting the partnership back up to speed and we are confident the trio will soon be the leading GP Team in Australia.

What does the GP Team do?

The team provides GP locums to anywhere that they are required, with a focus on more regional and rural locations, ranging from the depths of Queensland to the extremities of Western Australia.

From an initial conversation the team will work with you to establish what options are going to suit you best, assist you through the credentialing process via our paperless compliance system, and ensure you get the best chance at a stress-free locum life.

In addition to finding you the best work options, be it locum or permanent, the team will make sure that your compliance stays up to date, your travel arrangements run smoothly and that you get paid for the work you perform.

Often locum roles for GPs will have job titles such as Medical Officer (MO), Senior Medical Officer (SMO), or District Medical Officer (DMO), and you will commonly see acronyms in use such as GP ED, GP ANAE and GP OBS – abbreviations for emergency, anaesthetics and obstetrics.

Locum work can be as short as one shift, for rural GP’s it is often usually at least 2 or 3 shifts for weekend cover. More commonly it would be 7-14 day blocks but can be much longer with placements lasting several months.

For longer term work options locum positions can be facilitated on a rotational basis with the ability to manage rosters to suit your lifestyle combining earning a good income with work life balance.

What does a GP do?

We use the term GP (General Practitioner) as a general capture-all term, however the actual variety of options for GP locum placements is very diverse.

Locum work options for GP’s can range from traditional private practice clinic work at one end of the spectrum, to the management of a busy hospital emergency department at the other.

Locum GP’s are essential to the backbone of the Australian Healthcare system. Without locums the system would quickly run to halt in the more regional and rural locations.

Many people would not know that the doctor they have just seen in the emergency department, or the doctor that has just delivered they baby is technically a GP.

Historically the vast geography and sparse population spread of Australia led to the evolution of GPs that are in essence doctors that are ‘Jack of all trades’ but, unlike the saying, they are also master of many.

In recent times there has been the development of various rural medicine skilled training routes including a rural generalist pathway for doctors that work in the regional and rural settings to recognize and develop these unique doctors. These doctors, often a Specialist General Practitioner holding fellowship with either the ACRRM or the RACGP, are specialists in General Practice with skills across other areas including emergency, anaesthetics, obstetrics, surgery etc. These advanced skills, such as Anaesthetics and Obstetrics, are in conjunction with the specialist medical colleges such as the ANZCA and the RANZCOG, and lead to GP’s having qualifications such as the Joint Consultative Committee on Anaesthesia (JCCA) and a Diploma in Obstetrics (DRANZCOG).

For doctors seeking a true consultative approach to finding either locum or permanent work options please get in touch with 1Medical today.

Our GP Team – Joshua, Nik or Verity will be happy to assist.

Not a GP?– don’t worry, we have a team for each area of medicine including Emergency Medicine, General Medicine and Retrieval Medicine.