PERMANENT GP JOB
General Practitioner Vacancy
Bowen (Whitsunday Coast)
North Queensland (QLD)
HERBERT STREET FAMILY MEDICAL CENTRE
Herbert Street Family Medical Centre have a vacancy for a permanent General Practitioner in our family friendly medical practice in Bowen. Located less than 1km from the warm tropical waters of the Great Barrier Reef and a short drive from Airlie Beach, doctors can enjoy the best of our small town hospitality and laid back Whitsunday’s lifestyle.
Herbert Street Family Medical Centre
1/77 Herbert Street
Bowen, QLD 4805
POSITION:
Fulltime General Practitioner with General Registration
COMMENCING: ASAP
SURGERY WEBSITE:
GOOGLE MAPS:
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SURGERY OVERVIEW
Herbert Street Family Medical Centre is a private medical practice owned by the Girudala Community Co-Operative Society (www.girudala.com.au) which is a local indigenous community organization that also runs a housing co-operative and many health and family support projects. The centre will run as a mixed fee for service and bulk billing practice with a focus on preventative health care and management of chronic illness. It has been operating from July 2010 and is open to the whole community. The centre is situated in a duplex setting with a private dental practice as a neighbour in the main street of town.
SURGERY OWNERSHIP
We are owned by the Girudala Community Co-Operative Society, and are a self funded organisation that does not receive Government assistance. We are not an AMS (Aboriginal Medical Service).
OUR DOCTORS
Herbert Street Family Medical Centre does not currently have a permanent doctor. We are engaging the services of Locum Doctors until we find a Permanent GP.
MEDICARE STATUS
Our medical centre is in a District of Workforce Shortage area and we are RRMA6. We have previously employed GPs under 19AB exemptions and usually have the doctor at our local hospital to act as their mentor. We are not a training practice and cannot provide supervision at present. This will be one of our goals once we recruit a permanent doctor. We also hold a current Visa 457 sponsorship to allow us to sponsor a doctor.
SURGERY LAYOUT
We have two consultation rooms for our doctors, 2 small consultation rooms for our Allied Health visitors and one treatment room which is where our nurse is located. We also have a staff room, onsite parking and central cooling system. Our main doctor’s consultation room and the treatment room have natural lighting.
SURGERY ROUTINE
Our practice hours are Monday – Wednesday: 8:30am to 5:00pm and Thursday & Friday: 7:00am to 3:00pm with an hour lunch. Our appointments are scheduled for 15 minutes for a standard consultation. We currently have one doctor on duty all day.
TREATMENT ROOM
Our surgery has one treatment room, which has one bed. The treatment room is set up for spirometry test, ECG’s, Cryo, minor procedures and minor emergencies. The local hospital is only a couple of blocks away from our medical centre for emergencies.
ADMIN SETUP
Herbert Street Family Medical Centre has a fulltime Receptionist and Practice Manger employed at our practice. Our records are all
computerised, we use Medical Director 3.17.3. We are AGPAL Accredited.
NURSING SERVICES
Currently we have 1 x fulltime Registered Nurse, 1 x fulltime Enrolled Nurse, 1 x casual Enrolled Nurse and a Trainee Indigenous
Health Worker. Our nursing staff are available for all consultation hours.
ALLIED HEALTH SERVICES
We have visiting Allied Health professionals that run clinics at our practice, monthly. These include Audiologist, Diabetes Educator,
Podiatrist and a Sonographer.
SPECIALIST SERVICES
We do not have any specialists that visit our practice, they run clinics at our local hospital.
DIAGNOSTIC SERVICES
We have a visiting Sonographer that performs Ultrasounds for diagnostic imaging services, monthly. We also have the local hospital that performs Xrays, Sullivan & Nicolaides Pathology that is about two blocks away, QML Pathology and Whitsunday Ultrasounds are about a 10 minute drive away from our practice.
OTHER CLINICAL SERVICES
Our Medical Centre performs: Health Checks, Care Plans, Pre-Employment Medicals, Immunisations, ECG’s, Spiro’s, Cryo, Minor Procedures, we also focus on indigenous health.
PATIENT DEMOGRAPHICS
The population of Bowen as of 2016 census was 10,377. Located in the Whitsundays region. We are a multi-cultural town but the most common language spoken would be English. The community would include families, retirees, backpackers, miners, fishermen, tourists, contractors and farmers. During seasonal time we have backpackers that work in Bowen on the local farms. These workers include people from a wide variety of countries such as: Tonga, Korea, Italy, Europe, Great Britian, Vietnam, to name just a few. Common medical conditions would be cancer, diabetes, mental health issues.
BILLING ARRANGEMENTS
We are a mixed billing practice. We bulk bill Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islanders, South Sea Islanders, Centrelink Concession Holders and children 15 years & under.
PATIENT FLOWS
We have a diverse range of patients that use our centre and they are local community members, backpackers, miners, fishermen, tourists, contractors and farmers. We have, 15 minute appointments and we are usually booked out at one to two weeks ahead.
TOWN/SUBURB FACILITIES
Bowen is a coastal town and located in the Whitsunday Region on the eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. The town of Merinda and the Abbot Point coal shipping port are also within the locality of Bowen. Population as of 2016 census was 10,377. Located in the Whitsundays, doorstep to the Great Barrier Reef. The inner reef is just metres from many of Bowen's bays. Within minutes of donning your snorkel you can be swimming above a rich environment of corals and fish. At low tide you can walk towards the North Head Lighthouse and be amazed by the bountiful sea life, admiring giant red starfish, feather stars and green sea turtles.
TOURIST INFORMATION
Bowen is a seaside country town with 7 beaches, great outdoors lifestyle and is situated at the top of the Whitsundays, just 45 mins from Airlie Beach and Proserpine. We are located 2 hours from Townsville to the north and Mackay to the South. It has sailing, snorkeling/diving and fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, a nine-hole golf course along the beachfront, as well as many recreational activities available in the community such as cycling, bushwalking, fossicking, arts and crafts and most sports. Bowen is a very friendly town, with aspirations to become the festival capital of Australia and you will easily settle into the community. The lifestyle is very low stress and laid back. Some websites you may like to look at are:
www.enterprisewhitsundays.com.au
SKILLS OR INTERESTS SOUGHT
A GP with minor procedure skills would be an advantage but not a necessity. Previous experience with indigenous patients and chronic illness would also be an advantage, as we focus on Australian Indigenous Health. Currently, we have Medical students that attend the medical centre occasionally to observe. We are looking at becoming approved to recruit a Registrar to work at the practice. This will be once we recruit a GP that is able to supervise. A GP with the ability to supervise Registrars would be highly regarded.
CIRCUMSTANCES
We are looking for a Permanent GP because our previous GP had to move interstate for her husband’s work.
CONTRACT TERMS
Our new GP would be required to perform pap smears as our nurses are not trained in this area. They would also be required to complete Health Checks and Care Plans with the assistance of our nurses and indigenous health workers. As this is a solo practice doctors will be required to remain available at the surgery for the full consulting day. Rate of pay starts at 65%. This is negotiable depending on experience and ability to supervise trainees.
We do not have any patients at the nursing homes at present but there are 2 nursing homes located in Bowen. Previously our GP was required to visit the nursing home to see our surgery’s patients. We have no oncall requirements at our practice but one weekend per month would be appreciated. Our local hospital does have local GP’s from other medical centres that help on the weekends, usually on a one weekend per month basis.
The successful applicants will be seeing some Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander clients, utilising the Close the Gap Initiative for Indigenous Health including the Practice Incentive Program (PIP) and PBS Co-Payment Scheme. We would like our staff to be community minded and support the community not for profit sector. We would also like staff to possess a healthy appreciation of and commit to utilise chronic disease prevention and management community health programs on offer in community.
LOCUM TERMS
We currently have a vacancy for a locum doctor from the 02/10/2018 - 21/12/2018. Our hourly rate is $150/hour or 65% whichever is higher. We can provide a unit to accommodate our Locum, return flights within Australia and a surgery car. The flights are only provided for the locum doctor, any extra expenses for family and friends will have to be paid by the locum doctor. Locum doctors will be required to remain available for our full consulting day.
GENERAL COMMENTS
Flights are available to Brisbane, Sydney & Melbourne from the Proserpine airport, and to most capital cities in Australia from Mackay or Townsville. There are many investment opportunities in this community with the mining boom and growth in tourism.
CONTACT:
Cherie Ives
Practice Manager
Herbert Street Family Medical Centre
1/77 Herbert Street
Bowen QLD 4805
Phone: (07) 4786 3833, (07) 4786 3844
Email: CIves@hsfmc.com.au
Posted: 10th August 2018
Position Reference: DY17081
