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Hi all

This is more out of curiosity than anything else at this stage.

What is the remuneration of podiatric surgeons in Australia?

Are they inline with other medical surgery disciplines?

Cheers
Jim

 

Hi Jim,

I did a fair amount of my surgical residency in Australia but never completed my fellowship. I still hear the ringing words of advice from Dr Lee Gray in Perth in my first rotation with her:

"If you are doing Podiatric Surgery for the money - quite now. You will make more money as a general podiatrist dispensing orthoses".

Its alot of work - and by the time you have invested yourself completely in completing the training you would have financially depleted yourself to an enormous extent. It looks glamorous, in reality its a ton of hard word which isnt paid that well or covered by medicare/private health (in most cases - I think Western Australia may be an exception to this).

Do it because you love it, not for the money. In saying that I hear getting a residency position with the ACPS or through UniWA is akin to winning powerball at the moment! Good luck with your pursuits no matter what they may be.

 

Thanks for the fantastic post Paul.

I'd read through the current SA Medical Officers Enterprise Agreement (HR being my career prior to embarking on podiatry) and noted that there was no mention of Podiatric Surgeons. Your post seems to answer why this is the case. Naturally, looking to establish a career in podiatry and armed with a healthy sense of curiosity, this ultimately led to Podiatric Surgery.

I had wondered whether, being a surgical discipline, the surgeons remuneration was one of the restrictions to it being adopted by the public system, hence the query.

Given your background and what appears to be happening in WA (shift towards Podiatric Surgery acceptance by the public system) I wonder if there is scope for the other states to follow?

I note there are quite a few in South Australia (relatively)

Cheers
Jim

 

Podiatrists employed in the public sector in Australia are not covered by Medical Officer Agreements, as they are not Medical Officers, but by Allied Health Professional Agreements.
And while there is scope for other states to follow SA and WA by employing Pod Surgeons in public hospitals, the political situation (both Gov and the AMA/AOA) in the bigger states is not yet ready!

 

Currently, Allied Health Professionals are covered under the Salaried Enterprise Agreement here in SA (govt)

Specifically, under the AHP salary structure. I note there is no provision for podiatric surgeons though, I wonder where these distinctly educated few people are covered (if at all) within the public sector.

 

I agree with Stephen - at the moment the situation just doesnt allow for it. We need a critical mass. The numbers are swelling, I now get referrals from my local GPs asking if I could assess their bunion cases and refer to my local Pod Surgeon as he "does an amazing job and is much more personable than the local orthopod". It takes one spark to ignite the fire. On another note I had a very interesting meeting today with members of the Australian Dental Association. They have amazing insights into this stuff coming from their background which is not too dis-similar to Podiatry. Their views on Podiatry: Evolve or die - there is no middle road. They do not see a long term prospect for Podiatry in its current state however they did put forward some amazing ways in their opinion to advance the profession - all in all it was an eye opening brain storm session. Our clinic will be trialling these ideas over the coming months.