When the remote Queensland town of Julia Creek started searching for a permanent doctor, the job’s $600,000 pay packet went viral.
The local health service received 95 applications from across the globe for the position, which involves looking after the town’s 550 people.
But the doctor who won the job was an Australian rural generalist who says she found out about the position over a beer with her brother on a cattle property near Mudgee, in the New South Wales Central West.
“I actually had not seen the viral campaign,” Pip Bunting said.
“We were having a beer one afternoon out the front and I said, ‘Oh, I’m really looking for a new challenge now.’
“And my brother said, ‘What about Julia Creek?'”
Dr Bunting’s brother used to drive road trains across the Top End and he would stop in Julia Creek for his COVID tests. He heard about the job on ABC Radio.
“That’s how I found out about it, and then of course from there I’d heard all this stuff that was going on in the background with the viral campaign,” she said.
“But honestly, it was a discussion with him, not the campaign itself.”
Pip Bunting’s job is now looking after the town’s 550 people. (Supplied: Warren Butterworth)
Now, two months into the job, Dr Bunting is enjoying her new home.
“This is a fantastic little community,” she said.
“I’ve called it a bit of a utopia to my friends. There’s so much to do out here.”
‘Confident we’ve made the right choice’
North West Hospital and Health Service chief executive Sean Birgan said applicants were shortlisted to eight Australian rural generalist doctors.
The previous doctor, Adam Louws, held the position for two years before moving back to Brisbane with his family.
The GP position operates out of the Julia Creek Multipurpose Health Service, which includes an emergency department, general practice and aged care support.
The job’s incentives are double what is offered to GPs in most Australian cities. (Supplied: Queensland Health)
“These roles require a huge responsibility for a single town doctor,” Mr Birgan said.
“The salary and entitlements for this position were in line with the entitlements of any doctor, working with the suitable qualifications, in a remote location in Queensland.”
Mr Birgan said Dr Bunting was selected for her experience as a rural generalist, as well as emergency medicine.
“We’re very confident we’ve made the right choice,” he said.
‘It’s a real privilege’
Dr Bunting said she took the job because it was an opportunity to be the sole doctor in a community, practising “true rural generalist” medicine.
“You get to use all your skills. You’re dealing with patients that have babies, right through to aged care and everything in between,” she said.Â
“It’s a real privilege to be invited into people’s lives as doctors, sometimes at the best times of their life, sometimes at the worst.”
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Dr Bunting said there was “no typical average day”, but the support of her colleagues and the community made things manageable.
“Even on our crazy busy days, it has been good because we’ve got a really good team,” she said.
Rural generalists recognised as specialists
In September, the Medical Board of Australia and the federal government endorsed and approved rural medicine becoming a field of speciality practice.
Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler said recognition of rural generalist medicine established a national standard, encouraging more doctors to choose a rural generalist career.
A “magic” Julia Creek sunset in outback Queensland. (Supplied: Tourism Queensland)
Dr Bunting said the development of medical rural schools was a step in the right direction, but she wanted to see more rural kids become rural doctors.
“I think certainly coming from a rural background, we should try really hard to recruit kids that have grown up in that rural environment and appreciate how special that can be,” she said.
“The financial incentives help, but there’s something innate about being someone that’s come from that background.”
In the meantime, Dr Bunting plans on making Julia Creek home.
“I’m here for a while, absolutely,” she said.
“What a great place to work when every day ends with a magic Julia Creek sunset.”