Abstract
Background. Little is known about the drivers of migration of GPs. Risk attitude may play an important role as migration is fundamentally a risky decision that balances the risks of staying with the risks associated with leaving. This paper examines the association between risk attitudes and the migration of UK GPs to Australia.
Methods. GPs who qualified in the UK but work in Australia and who responded to the Medicine in Australia: Balancing Employment and Life (MABEL) national longitudinal survey of doctors, were compared with GPs based in Scotland who responded to a survey. Risk attitudes were elicited for financial risks, career and professional risks and clinical risks on a scale from 1 to 5.
Results. GPs in Scotland and UK trained GPs in Australia have similar risk attitudes for financial risk. However, UK trained GPs in Australia are less willing to take clinical and career risks.
Conclusion. GPs who migrated to Australia after qualifying in the UK were more risk averse about their career and clinical risks. This may suggest that more risk averse GPs migrate to Australia due to pull factors such as less uncertainty around career and clinical outcomes in Australia. The uncertain NHS climate may push more risk averse doctors away from the UK.
Methods. GPs who qualified in the UK but work in Australia and who responded to the Medicine in Australia: Balancing Employment and Life (MABEL) national longitudinal survey of doctors, were compared with GPs based in Scotland who responded to a survey. Risk attitudes were elicited for financial risks, career and professional risks and clinical risks on a scale from 1 to 5.
Results. GPs in Scotland and UK trained GPs in Australia have similar risk attitudes for financial risk. However, UK trained GPs in Australia are less willing to take clinical and career risks.
Conclusion. GPs who migrated to Australia after qualifying in the UK were more risk averse about their career and clinical risks. This may suggest that more risk averse GPs migrate to Australia due to pull factors such as less uncertainty around career and clinical outcomes in Australia. The uncertain NHS climate may push more risk averse doctors away from the UK.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1093-1099 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Health Policy |
| Volume | 123 |
| Issue number | 11 |
| Early online date | 19 Sept 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Nov 2019 |
Bibliographical note
No specific funding was received for this work. The Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates funds HERU. Alastair Irvine’s PhD studentship was funded by the Institute of Applied Health Sciences, University of Aberdeen. This research used data from the MABEL longitudinal survey of doctors conducted by the University of Melbourne and Monash University (the MABEL research team). Funding for MABEL comes from the National Health and Medical Research Council (Health Services Research Grant: 2008–2011; and Centre for Research Excellence in Medical Workforce Dynamics: 2012–2017) with additional support from the Department of Health (in 2008) and Health Workforce Australia (in 2013).Keywords
- migration
- risk attitude
- general practitioners
- General practitioners
- Migration
- Risk attitude
Access to Document
- Accepted Manuscript
© 2019. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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Marjon van der Pol
- School of Medicine, Medical Sciences & Nutrition, Health Economics Research Unit - Chair in Health Economics
- Institute of Applied Health Sciences
Person: Academic