F3 Series: Working in Australia
Summary
This on-demand teaching session is geared to medical professionals and provides an overview of why many people decide to move to Australia for work. It covers important topics such as specific visa documents required, the incredible beauty and wildlife of the country, and what sort of application process one must go through to work in the country. It also recounts the speaker's own experience with coming from Ireland to Australia for work and having the benefits of a strong work-life balance, as well as the opportunity to explore the beauty of the country. The session also gives insight into the different states in Australia, areas of the country most people wouldn't think to go, and the respect Australian hospitals have for doctors from the UK and Ireland.
Learning objectives
Learning Objectives:
- At the end of the session, learners will be able to understand why many people choose to move to Australia to practice medicine.
- Learners will be able to name different cities within Australia with unique features and explain how weather patterns differ across the country.
- Learners will be able to describe the application process for practicing medicine in Australia including necessary documents and tests.
- Learners will be able to explain the work-life balance within public hospitals in Australia and the overall healthcare system in the country.
- Learners will be able to give examples of the different career levels and specialties they could pursue in Australia if they choose to practice medicine there.
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Computer generated transcript
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The following transcript was generated automatically from the content and has not been checked or corrected manually.
Hello. Ok. Hello everyone and welcome um to tonight's event by the 6 p.m. series. So I am not actually and I'm Hussaini. Um my name is Tara. Um and I'm currently talking to you all from Perf in Australia. Um So tonight's talk is going to be all about, I suppose life as a doctor in Australia. Um So let me just get my power point up which is not coming up now and sorry, I'm not the most tech savvy person now. Okay. We'll try this, see, okay when this decides to work. So it's currently about one o'clock in the morning over here at the moment. Um So let's see. Mm, sorry about this now. Okay, let's see. There we go. So that should be working a bit better now, um if you can't see this, um just let me know in the comments. Um So look, um yep, today today's talk is all going to be about, I suppose working in Australia. So what we're gonna sort of go for this is just look, it's very rough. I'm not going to go into a great deal of specifics about specific inquiries about visas or applying to certain organizations or hospitals. This is just sort of a very brief overview about, you know, why many people decide to move to Australia? Um a bit just about, I suppose the application process. Um Never mind. I have only applied and only know about working in Western Australia. I have tried to include things about applying to other states because I know people are interested in going to different places. Um I'm not going to mention New Zealand because I have no idea how to get there. Um But look, well, we'll go through some of the basics and look if you have any questions afterwards, look, I'll try my best to answer, but I'm not an expert. Um And you're probably best off emailing um one of the organizations involved. Um So I suppose what is so great about Australia? So, you know, what was the land down on um, several, several 1000 miles away on the other side of the world? Um So look, Australia is, I don't think I appreciated this before I moved here, but Australia's massive, massive country. So Australia this, this blew my mind. So the the width of Australia is wider than the diameter of the moon. So I don't, I don't know, like the what disappointed me more like how small the moon is or just how big Australia is. It is massive and it's a great country. So, so much to explore. There is absolutely fantastic. Wildlife. Absolutely amazing food. And drink here. The Australians, if you, if you love coffee, Australia is the place for you. Every single, there are so many coffee shops here. I am one of those strange people who doesn't like coffee, but I've been told the, the Australian coffee is like nothing else fantastic array. They also love, they love a good brunch. They have fantastic cities as well. Lovely places like Melbourne Sydney, um great atmosphere, great culture, also beautiful, beautiful landscapes. Um Some of the most beautiful scenery you will, you will see. Um and they also have a good, a good work life balance. Um Something which I think I had only heard whispers of when I worked back in Ireland. Um but um yeah, it's a, it's a fantastic place, more time for all of your newfound hobbies such as surfing or snorkeling. And maybe, maybe this is uh for me anyway, this is certainly a main draw about coming to Australia was for the wonderful weather. Decided to top up on my vitamin D levels because they'll have to last me for the rest of my life and your chance to have a Christmas, Christmas in the sun. Um So look, there's, there's, I mean, that's just a handful of reasons why people come to Australia. There are many, many reasons. It is a beautiful country, they're lovely people. The weather is fantastic most of the time. Um And yeah, it's a pretty, pretty good place to work as a doctor too. Um, like just going back a bit as opposed to the whole work life balancing, like in where I work anyway, in one of the public hospitals in Western Australia, look, they're very strict about having this 80 hour per fortnight working week, which is really good. There's a much bigger emphasis on, you know, trying to get people to actually finish, you know, at the time you're supposed to. Um, whereas back home, you know, that was a suggestion and you finished, you know, 68 hours after that time. Um, so yeah, lots of, lots of reasons to come here. Um, but the process of getting here is, um, it's not, it's not for the faint of heart. It's, um, it's quite a prolonged process. Um, but I would definitely say that it is worth it. Um, so I suppose if you're thinking, you know, maybe you're at the end of your F two, you're not, you're not sure or your intern, you're, you're not sure, you know, what you want to do. That was certainly where I was sitting and done my intern year and I thought to myself, I don't really know what I want to do next, but I don't think I want to go down the route of being on a scheme yet. Um, coming to Australia is definitely a great option. You come over here and yet to work in lots of different specialties, you can do mixture medicine surgery. Um, you can work in emergency departments. You can see a whole great variety of different specialties. The healthcare system here is, it's really good. Um, people, you know, get MRI and CT scans the same day where they might have to wait, you know, a week for the same scan back home. Um, and, um, as it, like coming over as well as a doctor from the UK or Ireland, like, you're really highly respected over here. They really value having doctors from the UK and Ireland and certainly there's a lot of them over here. Um, I work in the emergency department at the moment. I'd say maybe half the people I work with and from the UK or Ireland. Um, so it's kind of nice, sort of like a bit of a home away from home. Um, but if, um, if you would like to come and join me over here, um, this is sort of a basic overview of how one might end up here. Unfortunately, there is a lot of paperwork involved. This is, I think and mostly complete list of everything that all the documents that you're going to need at some point in this application process. So, like some of them are, you know, very basic things such as, you know, having a CV, um, your passport, birth certificate. Um, other things like vaccination records, hospitals ask for different stages. Um One thing that it's maybe a bit unusual I wasn't expecting, um, is they want to, you know, coming from an English speaking country, um they wanted proof of English proficiency. Um So when I applied for my job in Western Australia, um they were happy with just a letter from my secondary school saying that they taught me in English. So my headmaster literally wrote a letter that just said, yep, Tara attended the school from these States to these dates and we taught her in English. Thank you. Um If you're second secondary education wasn't in English, um you may end up having to do um one of the English proficiency courses such as the Ielts. Um There's lots of others. Um to be honest, I don't know an awful lot about them because like I said, I, I just got a ladder from my secondary school, but that is just something to bear in mind. You might have to do a test just to prove you can speak English. Um So yeah, that's sort of a basic overview of what you're going to need. So then first big question you need to ask yourself is where do you want to go? So, like I said, Australia is an absolutely massive country. Everything is very far apart here on this map here, you can see we have the various state capitals. Um There is uh there, there are other places around there. There's a lot of, you know, big sort of, there's a lot of beautiful wilderness, there's a lot of empty, not empty space. There's, there's kind, there's lots of stuff in the middle but there's, it's very sparsely populated. A lot of Australia. Um, and things are very, very far apart. You can drive hours and hours without coming across, you know, any sort of major settlement. Um, so, yeah, I suppose the thing to think about is, you know, where, where do you want to go? It's not so easy just to, you know, hop on a hop on a train from Perf down here to, you know, go to Sydney or wherever. Um So look um popular places at Perf where I am famously the most isolated city in the world which I can confirm is true of being on the road trip up north. It is, there's not a lot, a big, a big settlements further north and Perf or south and Perf is beautiful. Great beach is western Australia has is beautiful beach is beautiful weather, very hot in summer. I will say I can get up to 40 degrees. Um Other places that I know are very popular and we have Melbourne down here in Victoria. Um It's really great cultural scene, great coffee, lots of museums, um uh great tram system as well. Um But the Webbers maybe a bit more European, shall we say a bit more wet than drizzly? Other popular places? Sydney obviously have the beautiful opera house. Um There's lots going on in Sydney um but can be quite expensive and difficult maybe to get housing. Um, other places, Darwin apparently is great if you like Crocodiles, Brisbane, really good weather. Uh, Adelaide. Very nice, pretty, um, Tasmania, lots of great hiking and stuff, but that's sort of thing you're into. So, lots of reasons to go to all these different places. To be honest. The main reason I ended up in Perth was because that's where every other person I knew was going. Um But yeah, there's lots of, there's lots of other great places um to choose. Um So then once you've decided where in Australia you would like to go, the first thing you need to do is apply for a job. So there's different ways that you can apply for jobs. Um The way that I did it was I applied through um the, the state website. So I think, uh these are basically the main websites for all of the different states. So I just went on to, you know, the state website for medical jobs in Western Australia. And I just applied through um that sort of central application scheme. Um other ways that you can apply for a job, you can just email hospitals directly. Um You know, if you know someone who works and private hospital or wherever they can put you in contact with someone, um or just just email around, send out cvs or inquire bad jobs. Um So yeah, so what job to apply for? So in Australia, the way that things are set, sort of set up is it's sort of similar to kind of the UK and Ireland. So at the bottom rung of the ladder, we have the interns um above inter near then, um they have what's called an RMO or resident medical officer. So that's most likely what you would be applying for. Um If you finish your F one, your F two, you can then are eligible to apply to be a resident medical officer. Um above them, then we have registrars and then above them sort of advance trainees that people doing fellows and then obviously consultants at the top of the pecking order. Um So things that you need just to apply um for job, it's, it's like because I was having a look at this earlier. So it's slightly different depending on where you want, what state you want to apply for. But the basic things you're going to need RACB with all of your medical jobs on it or your qualifications, all of that, a cover letter. Um And generally, um you might have to write uh no, for Western Australia, we had to sort of write a bit of a sort of short answer, I guess. And two different questions like how we fulfill the application selection criteria. So the stuff like how are you eligible to, are you eligible to work in Western Australia? So, you know, I have a medical degree, I'm licensed with the Irish Medical Council and all that sort of stuff. Um, and you know, how, what sort of skill sets do you have? Like, can you do Cannulas? Can you do phlebotomy, all that stuff? Um, one thing I would say, I suppose then if it comes to, like, you might have to rank hospitals or choose, you know, your top 10 favorite hospitals. Um, one thing I would say is check where the hospital is. Um Australian, some parts is quite sparsely populated. Um Things might not be as near to, you know, Sydney or perf as they may seem. And so just double check on Google maps where exactly you're applying to. Um So then congrats, you apply for a job. So the application when the applications open really depends on what state and where you're applying to. Um I started applying for my job in about January time. Um um So yeah, the applications opened about January. You then got told that, you know, they checked and you, you, you, your application was eligible and then I think about March time, then that's what I actually got, got my job offer. And so once you have secured a job, congrats, um then it's the start of even more paperwork. Fun is only just beginning. So the 1st, 1st thing I'm going to talk about, I suppose is APRA, so APRA is Australian Health Professional Registration Authority. So they're the registration authority for all of the doctors, the nurses, the ot is the physios, lots and lots of other different people who are related, who are involved and work in healthcare. And they are the main body who you need to apply to. So they have basically free sort of um routes for applying. So they have what's called the competent authority pathway. They have the standard authority pathway and then they have this thing called specialist pathway. So the one the most of use will be applying for is what's called the competent authority pathway. So to be eligible to apply for the competent authority pathway, you must have essentially gone to medical school in um in a certain country and you must have done your internship or had clinical experience again in one of six or seven countries that countries that include the UK, Ireland, Candida America, places like that. Um There is, yeah, this is, look, this is the list you can check and see, you know, these are countries um that are deemed to be eligible. Um They do a lot. So if you had say for example, you went to medical school in Candida and then you did your F one in the UK, you're still eligible. Um they have all of this on their website and you can go through just double check that you're definitely eligible. But um if you went and did your entire medical school in the UK or Ireland and then did your intern ear F one in the UK, Ireland, you're going to be eligible. Um, the specialist pathway then is sort of for people who want to go down down the route of flying to sort of specialized training scheme. Um or they're applying for um sort of a position in Australian Arab need. Um And then basically standard of 40 pathways, basically for anyone who doesn't fall into either of those two categories and more information about all of these different pathways can be found on the opera website. They have quite a lot on that and who's eligible, who's not. Um So yeah, so then once you've, you know, sort of decided what pathway you're going to go down, they all end up coming in the same way. Um But basically you get your job, you then need to um apply for to the Australian Medical Council um for what's called this primary source verification. So essentially, it's this whole big process where they basically check that you are, in fact a doctor that you are, in fact who you say you are and that you did actually go to medical school and graduate and do all of that. Um So to do this process, I suppose, um it's a little bit complicated. So they have this thing um called Epic Accounts. So Epic is this um electronic portfolio of international credentials. So you have to create this account so someone can look at your medical degree and say, you know, yes, that is a proper medical degree, you did go to um whatever medical school that is all okay. So in order to do this, um you need to create an epic account to do this very simple, you just need a lovely photo of your face, passport, self photograph and a photo uh photo of your actual passport. Once you've done that, um you get this thing called this epic identification form. Um You then are central inc um to do this video call um with uh notary. Um And they basically look at your passport, look at you and go, yes, that is the same person and they get you to sign an electronic form. Uh That's all sorted, takes a few days. Um And once you've created this Epic account, you can then upload documents for verification. So essentially your medical degree, you send it to Epic, they then have a look at it go, this is, this is a medical degree. Um This is, you know, this is all above board and they then send that on to the Australian Medical Council. You then just need to go and create um an account with the Australian Medical Council using your, your number that you get from your Epic accounts and stuck once they have decided that you are who you say you are, that you do actually have a medical degree that is legit. Uh you can then apply to opera. Um So applying to opera is it's, it's more paperwork. It's all of this is just more and more paperwork, but essentially you're gonna, you're gonna, you end up having to send them all of this long list of things. So you need to send them this app reforms. This is this application for provisional registration in Australia. Um You then, so when you apply for registration with opera, technically, you're under um this sort of restricted registration for the 1st 12 months. So basically you have to have a supervisor which as a, you know, as a RMO, as a, you know, that sort of equivalent, you're, you're always gonna have a registered, there's always gonna be somebody above you. Um And after you've done that for 12 months, you can then apply for general registration. So that basically means you can go and do low comming, you can leave Australia, you can come back and work or do a fellowship or do whatever you want. Uh You then also need to apply uh fill in this another form called the SPP A. All of these are sort of um done with who whatever hospital that you have applied for. Um a lot of hospitals. Certainly the one I work in have bad man. People are fantastic. They just send you a list of all these forms that they want you to fill in and they fill in their bit and send them off to wherever or get things done if you have any questions they're absolutely fantastic. A lot of the time they have a lot of experience dealing with people from the UK and Ireland. And yet they're really helpful, really good at sorting out all this stuff. So we, we were just sent sort of a list of, you know, please fill in your part of all these different forms. Um You then also need to um send opera, a notarized copy of your passport, your degree and a translation of your degree. So my medical degree is actually in Latin. So they wanted a lovely translation in English as a uh um So just a quick word expose about notarize ing documents. So if you're outside of Australia and you need, you're going to have to get these documents notified by a public notary. So it's not like getting your passport photo signed. I know um you know, one of my neighbors was like a teacher and you know, go up the road and sign up. Yep, that's all good. You can, you can go, it has to be somebody who has been nominated to be a public notary. So a lot of the time they tend to be solicitors lawyers. Um you can find a list of them on those two websites below and you can just go and find your nearest one. My the person I went to was the solicitor. Um They essentially need you to bring um the original copy. So you have to bring your big degree or your, and your passport or whatever and they essentially make you swear enough that, you know, this is, this is the original and they then basically sites I know of saying, you know, this is a, I, I've seen this, this is a true copy of the original. This is the person, uh, this is all sort of about board legitimate. Um, um, yeah, they sign, sign you off on that. Um, and yeah, that's, that's all that sort of. Um you also need to send opera a copy of your CV. So they, this is sort of, they have it all laid out here. Um Just sort of how they like you to have your CV. So if you're, it's good to have a look at this. Um I suppose before you're applying to jobs because then it means look, you can use the same, the same CV, that you used to apply to your jobs, you can say send the exact same one to opera. So this is just um the way that they like to have it structured. Most importantly though at the end of your CV, you need to sign and date it and say that, you know, everything in your CV is true and correct. Um So other things you're going to have to do in order to apply to opera is you are going to have to get a police check. Uh There are two different organizations who approved by opera to do the police check. So one of them is called Fit to work and the other is a, is, um, not a huge difference between the two very similar costs and similar, uh, similar wait times. Um, yeah, they're, they're, they're very much, much of a muchness. Um, what's really important is you need to do a police check for every single country outside of Australia where you have lived for more than six months from the age of 18. So I'm actually, I was actually born and bred in northern Ireland. I lived there until I was 18 until I lived school until I left school. And then I went and I went to med school in the Republic of Ireland and worked there for, I lived there and worked there for six years before I came over to Australia. Um But unfortunately for me, um I ended up having to do a police check for both Ireland and the UK because I lived in the UK until I was 18 years old and seven months before I moved to the Republic of Ireland. Um So, yeah, so just be be very careful. Um Make sure that you include every single country where you have been since you were 18. Um So yeah, so look uh other things that you're going to need to send is like said the CV additional sites list to your hospital, send that to you. Uh Job description again, hospital should send you that and um your contract, which you should have signed earlier when they give you the job. Um And yeah, you send that all off to opera. Um and then they'll probably ask you for some more documents. So, um two things that they tend to look for are what's called a certificate of good standing and a certificate of experience. So, certificate of um experience is just that, you know, you can, you can request these from the IMC from the GM see very easily they send them to opera, they have all the contact details for them. It's no problem. Um Certificate of good standing basically says that there's no major concerns about you and certificate of experiences. Basically that you've done your intern year, you've done your F one, your F two, whatever. Um The only thing is um you can only apply for these obviously towards the end of your intern year or your F one. Um and just be sort of very careful when you're applying for them. Um Sort of definitely this sort of towards the end because they have to have been within, issued within the last three months in order to be seen as valid by opera. Um So yeah, so look, you've sent everything off to Appert you have a job, you've sent off all of your registration, you've sent off this mountain of paperwork and now you can apply for a visa, which is more, more fun. Um So I'm not going to go into a whole pile of specifics about visas and what visas to apply for because it all depends on your circumstances is and what your hospital tells you to do. Um So when I first moved here, I moved here on what's called the 417 working holiday visa. So it's a visa that's valid for 12 months from the day you enter Australia. Um And essentially allows you the, uh the ideas that allows you to work and travel in Australia for a year. Um So when I first came over here, that's what our hospital told us to apply for. Um, you can stay with the same employer for up to six months. Um It is the cheaper, one of the cheaper options when it comes to getting a visa to go to Australia. Um but it is only valid for 12 months. So if you're looking to stay in here, long term, you're going to have to apply for another visa at a later stage. Um, your hospital might ask you to apply for a different visa. They might ask you to apply for what's called the four A two temporary skills shortage. So it is quite a bit more expensive than the 417. And the issue with it is it has to be sponsored by your employer. So you can only get this if your hospital agrees, um, agrees to sponsor use when they say sponsor, it's not like they're, they're not giving you money, unfortunately. Um, but they're just, you know, they're saying, sort of, we will support this person in giving them a job and not much else. And the other sort of advantage, I suppose with the 42 is, um, you can nominate dependence on that. Um, but yeah, look, when it comes to visas your best, getting in contact with the hospital and see what they want you to do because like I said, for the 4 O2, the hospital need to agree to sponsor you. Um, in order to apply for a Visa, you need to create an Emmy account, um, which is all sort of done by the Australian immigration uh, people and it's very straightforward, you sort of, you create an account. Um, you then have to go through all the different sections. They ask for bit of like travel history where you've, again where you've lived your dresses and stuff like that. Just sort of proving you are who you say you're, um, once you've sent off all that, all that paperwork, um, they'll then ask for a health check because you are going to be a medical professional working in Australia. Um, so like the health checks, it's, it's very basic. They, you go to see a doctor, another doctor. Um, they essentially do a very quick physical exam. You get a chest X ray. Um, they do some blood tests and they take a sample of your urine. Very exciting. Um And basically they then give you the thumbs up and say, yep, you can go and work in Australia um in order to apply for health check and you need to have what's called a half ID or health assessment program number. Um, you get this number after you've applied for your visa initially, they then send you this half ID numbers. You can apply for your health check. So you can then have your visa fully approved. The problem is though there aren't very many places where you can actually um have your health check done. So in Ireland, you're only two options are Dublin or Cork. Um And in the UK, I had a look earlier. So there's a couple of options, London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, up in Scotland. And the problem is that these are all done sort of through private healthcare services that they are, they are quite expensive. Unfortunately, you can't just sort of uh pop, pop down to the Ed and ask, can I have a chest X ray? Um Unfortunately, you do have to go through one of these private private firms, unfortunately. So like once you, you've had your health check, they have approved your visa. Um you can then book book your flights and uh fly off, fly off into the sunset. Um There is no quick and easy way to get to Australia. It is most definitely on the other side of the world. Um Fiance I just went on Skyscanner, er, um, and, uh, got the cheapest flight I could essentially. Um, yeah, there's, you know, some people decide to make a holiday in Singapore en route or do whatever you want. Um, one thing just to bear in mind just when you're booking flights is your hospital might want you to be there just a little bit before you start, you start your job, um, in order to, you know, sort out more paperwork, um, and different things. So you might need to book your flight a little bit earlier than when you're actually starting work. Also gives you time to sort of figure out life, find places to live and do other stuff like that. Um So once you've arrived operas back again with even more paperwork. Um, so you've sent them all this millions and millions of documents. Um, but then, then they want to see you in person. Um So you essentially have to bring you, uh, then your passport, your driver's license, if you have one, a bank card, uh your boarding passes to show that you have physically entered Australia, um, and then proof of Australian address. So if you don't have a house, um, you haven't acquired one a place to rent yet. Um, you can always use your, um, Airbnb address initially or that's what a lot of us did when we firstly over as we stayed in an airbnb uh for a little while, um for like a week or two. So we had somewhere to stay and went out and viewed houses to rent and stuff like that. Um, you can always put down that address, um, and then change it later. Um, and yeah, you send that all, all that, all that off and APRA finally say yes, you can work and then you can go to work and start your job and, and uh in fact some of that money that you've spent getting there. Um So yeah, once what other things that you need to sort out and when you get there are your Medicare and provide your numbers. So your Medicare number is your prescriber number that allows you to um write prescription. So you can prescribe things in the hospital on, you know, the medication charge, you can prescribe paracetamol or Toprazole, whatever you want to prescribe. Um but in order to give somebody a discharge prescription to go home with, you are going to need a formal prescriber number. Um and the way to do that is for applying for a Medicare number. But unfortunately, you do need to have an apple a number in order to do that. So you can't actually apply for that until you arrive until APRA have given you the okay say you can work, have given you a number, you then apply for your Medicare number before. And this can unfortunately take a couple of weeks before you can actually prescribe for people um, other things you know that you might have forgot about is get an Australian bank accounts. You can get paid for all of your hard work, get a tax file number so you can pay tax on all of your hard earned money. Um, also going to need, um, to do this form, say work with Children. You just have to fill out the form, um, show them a couple of pieces of ID to the post office, like your passport, your bankcard. Bizarrely enough. I think they accept, um, other things to think about. Um, just to mention quickly medical indemnity. So, um, a lot of the organization, Shins in the UK and Ireland actually have a reciprocal um, arrangement with the, with the, with the Australian Medical indemnity companies. So you can essentially just, um, contact whoever you're with in UK or Ireland. Um, and just say, you know, moving to Australia or get contact with the Australian organization and they can sort it out. It's, it's not a problem. You just, you just need to send an email essentially. Um, and then, yeah, find point somewhere to live. Um, houses here are, um, yeah, they're, they're, they're, they're pretty nice. Um, um, definitely a lot. Um, certainly perfect. He was a lot better value than what I was paying when I lived in Dublin. Um, I, my bedroom in Dublin, I could stand in, I couldn't really walk in. Um, whereas he here I, I have lots of room. I can walk, walk multiple steps. It's very exciting. And, um, so, yeah, I find, find some, find, some people, find some friends. Um, yeah, find, find, find somewhere to live and then you can start enjoying your wonderful new life in the sun. Take up all of those hobbies that, you know, if you always dreamed of but never got to do. I always loved, um, watching on, like TV, shows and stuff for all people, you know, America wherever and people be doing yoga in the park. Um, doesn't have quite the same appeal in Ireland, you know, in March where it's really windy and cold, but it's kind of sunny and people are trying. Um, so that's something I took up. You can take up surfing snorkeling. Um, Australians are really into the outdoor livestocks. Obviously, the weather is great. Um, um, and yeah, lots, lots of cool hobbies you can take up or plenty of indoor ones to, I've taken up, uh, doing a bit of salsa dancing different things. Um, so, yeah, you can start enjoying your, your, your new best life, enjoying all of the really cheap avocados that they have over here, um, and drinking, drinking plenty of good coffee. Um, so I suppose just a couple of things, um, maybe sort of common questions people might be having or sort of misconceptions that people can sometimes have about Australia. Um, first thing I'd like to start off with is the weather. Um So for those of you who are not aware, um, well, you guys are all enjoying the beautiful sunshine right now in Australia it is winter. Um I was very naive before I came here. I knew it was going to be winter. Um I did not realize how wet or how cold it was going to be. Now, it does really depend what state you're in where you are, the fervor north you are, does tend to be hotter and a few more humid. Um So winter is a bit different depending on where you are. Um But it, it can get cold. You, you may need to bring a couple of jumpers. Um and a coat. I would bring a coat. I I didn't that was, that was a poor choice of my part. Um Just to point out as well as it does, it does get cold perfu regularly gets up near fort two degrees in summer. Uh This is, this is on Tuesday when I was getting off the train, it was two degrees. Um Admittedly this is apparently the coldest. It's been in about seven years in western Australia, but it does get cold. So it's not all, it's not all sunshine and T shirts do bring some some slightly warmer weather and maybe a raincoat. Um Other things I suppose people always ask love to ask about is like I mentioned earlier, great wildlife in Australia. Kangaroos are gorgeous. I did not expect there to be so many of them. Uh, but there are a lot of, um, I suppose potentially dangerous animals in Australia. Um, for those of us who don't like spiders, there are spiders here. Um, admittedly I don't think I have seen any more spider's here than I would have back home, to be honest. Um, they're spider bites for the most part, um, aren't particularly venomous, maybe a bit painful again. I've, I've seen very, very few people have ever been bitten by a spider. Um, there are other creature's obviously there's snakes, there's dangerous creature's in the water as well. Um, but I suppose the thing is to always sort of just be vigilant about these things. Um And, um, yeah, I just suppose just to be aware, just always keep them at the back of your mind. But like, I shouldn't let you stop you enjoying like this beautiful country. Like I got out on many, many, um, walks and hikes and haven't come across anything particularly, um, scary or dangerous. I've been in the water many, many times and again, have, have lived to tell the tale um, in a lot of the major cities and they have, um, sometimes they have shark nets in places, um, along here along the coast in Perth, um, they have helicopter patrols, um, which keep an eye out sharks and if there's anyone that is anywhere near the shore, they stand out a big alarm and they clear the beach. Um, but, um, yeah, wildlife is, for the most part, it's not just, just respected, I suppose, is what I'm trying to say. Um, but it's, it's not as bad as people make out. Another thing I suppose I wanted to talk about briefly was, I suppose, career progression, um, when it comes to being in Australia. Um, so look, there are options for progressing your career if you want to stay here and they are um always um looking for people to step up to registrars. Um being a register in Australia. Certainly a junior registrar isn't perhaps as um I suppose scary, maybe as it might be back home AM. Consultants are definitely a lot more involved in a lot more present here. Um And um seeing other seniors are also a lot more present than maybe they would be back home. So there's certainly opportunities to step up to register level. Um You are definitely eligible to apply for different um uh training schemes within Australia as well. Um And yeah, there's plenty of options to uh progress your career to do different um courses, choir different skills. Um A lot of people when they come over end up working in emergency departments, really good place to learn very hands on skills like suturing and uh applying casts and stuff like that. Um And everything I think people sometimes or some people might be aware of is something called the 10 Year Moratorium So I had, I have had, I've spent quite a long time trying to look into this uh in case people might be wondering about this. And to be honest, I don't really understand it, but essentially if you come over here and you want to stay and you want to be a general practitioner, um because you are an international medical graduate, um they try and send them to more ruhr away locations for a period of 10 years. So they dispose these, these neural communities. Um you know, our um getting the healthcare, suppose that they, that they require, that they need, that they deserve. Um It's, it's a bit, it's a bit complicated. There's essentially, it is 10 years, there's different levels of like how oral you can go. Um And, you know, some places that are seen as Ruhr a while, you know, might be a town that's, you know, a couple of hours north of Perth, other places that are really, really rare. Oral are, you know, hundreds of miles away from the next town over. Um There is different scales of, you know, how oral you have to go and the moral you go the less time you might have to do. There are also different exceptions um to this rule. So these are just a quick list of them. So, you know, um stuff like if you have a spouse who has to be in a certain place for a job, if you have, if you work for an, uh, some sort of, you have an academic appointment, um, there's different things like that. Um, if you don't want to go into general practice and you want to do cardiology or something, to be honest, I'm, I don't really understand. I'm not sure that you do have to do this sort of 10 year referral or places in need section. Um, certainly lots of the consultant sorts of registers I know are from the UK and Ireland and are working in a hospital. That's right in the city center. Um, so I'm not being, I'm not very helpful about that. To be honest, it's very complicated. I'd say if that's something that you're worried about, I'd say look into try and email somebody or um, yeah, you might need to look into that bit more yourself. Another thing I just wanted to clear up as well is cost. So all of this, these many, many things, many paperwork, many applying for opera, applying for the Australian Medical Council, all of that. Unfortunately, girls involved money and this is sort of a very rough breakdown. I definitely forgotten stuff that you have to pay for. Um, but as you can see, it is quite an expensive process getting out here. Um, but what I would say is the wages here do tend to be higher. It varies depending on what stage you are working in what hospital. Um, but you can be earning sort of 80 to 100 and $10,000. But like I said, it does vary depending on where you are working. Um So yeah, it is expensive to get here. Um But I think it's probably worth it. Um So look pros cons. Uh so I suppose over here, like they always talk about it, there is most definitely a better work life balance. Um, like I said earlier at the beginning, there's, they're much stricter I suppose about working our directives. Um There is much bigger emphasis on you actually finishing on time. Um, they're much more into having sort of a social life outside of work, which is all good, which is the way it should be. Um, like I said, pay is better, um sort of somewhere 8200 plus $1000 Australian dollars. Um, the weather, um although it is very cold in here per, at the moment, it is for the most part, it is beautiful and sunny most of the year. Um which, which is, which is great. Um, things so just I suppose to think about that like it's not all, it's not all, you know, sunshine and rainbows and there, there are drawbacks. Look it like the I showed you on the previous side. I mean, that's, you know, over 2000 lbs. It, it is expensive to get here. Um It is also, it's, it's stressful like it's a lot of paperwork, it's a lot of waiting. Um, it is a long drawn out process. Um, as well. When you get here, I think sometimes things that people don't mention is a lot of the time people finish, you know, their inter, near that 1 July or August. Whenever they then moved over here and start a job in August, it's winter. So you're going from beautiful sunshine, hopefully, or fairly warm in the UK. You come over here it's, it's cold, it's wet. When I first arrived, it rained for a week straight. Um, and it's dark at five o'clock and you arrive, you're maybe staying in airbnb, your then trying to sort out all this stuff so you can actually work so you can earn money. So you can, you know, because you're just hemorrhaging money because you've just got there and you're going around trying to find somewhere to live when you get here. Many of the houses most of the time aren't furnished. So you actually then have to go around and get furniture from charity shops a lot of the time. They put things on Facebook marketplace, which is actually really good. Um But it is a lot of stress running around then trying to, you know, find furniture, trying to get everything. It does take a while to get things settled down as well. Um And it is, it is, it is, it is stressful but um I think it's worth it in the end. Um Other things like obviously it's far from home. There's a time difference. It is hard to keep in contact with people. But, um, I think actually I've probably had more video calls and stuff and made more of an effort to keep in contact with my friends back home than when I was living in Dublin. Um, just because I think because you are so much fervor people do make more of an effort, which is nice. Um, just, yeah, just the other thing is, I suppose is, um, all the years, I suppose that you, you work in Australia, if you do decide that you want to go home, unfortunately, they don't count them for training schemes. Um However, if you have, or certainly in Ireland anyway, if you've stepped up, if you've got to the point where you were a register in Australia when you go back to Ireland and you do actually end up on a higher pace, go. Um, because they do take into account that you were maybe a registrar in Australia. Um So look, it's, it, it, it sounds like there's a lot of positive. It's, it's great but it, at the same time it's hard to get here, but once you get here, it does get infinitely infinitely better. Um, um, but yeah, at the end of the day, um it's up, it's up to you really, I would personally, I would highly recommend it. I really enjoy working in Australia. Um, I certainly find work a lot less stressful than I did at home. Um, definitely, certainly in western Australia anyway, seems to be a lot better staffed. Um, that may be where I work back home. Um, really good health care system. Um, also definitely have a much better, much better quality life here. Um, get to have more hobbies and do more things outside of work. Um, but yeah, look at the end of the day, I, I think it's, I would, I would highly recommend it. I don't think I'm going to stay here long term forever. Um It's, it's just, it's, it's far I want, I want to go back to see my family. Um but I would highly recommend coming here. It's great, great learning opportunity, great experience. Um So look, that's, that, that's my, my, my spiel, I suppose. Um Look, thank you all for listening. Um Look if you guys have any questions, um feel free to ask them, I will try my best. Um I can't promise that I will be able to answer. Um but I will, I will see what I can do. Um And let's see what's the chap doing? Um Sorry, I'll go back. I see people put things in question, sorry, in the comments also, if you guys want to leave any point. Um Thank you so much for staying. Um If you wouldn't mind um filling out the feedback form, that would be fantastic and I'll try and go through the questions. Yes, this session is being recorded. Um Yeah, so yeah. Um this is all being recorded. Uh Well, yep. Uh that's about the Power point for the addresses previously needed for the visa. How many years do you need to provide? Oh, sorry, I'm just trying to think of the top of my head. I'm trying to remember. It might just be that you need your current address. To be honest, I can't, I can't remember off the top of my head. Uh The most, I think it was like the last five years. Um I, I can't remember off the top of my head. I'm really sorry, I'd have to look, look up, look, look into that for you. Um Is it possible to become a consultant? What is this thing? Is it possible to come a consultant in Australia if you're shifting from the UK and planning to permanently settle there? Yeah. No, it's definitely, it's definitely possible to become a consultant. Um um The department I work in at the moment. A lot of our consultants are from the UK and Ireland. Um It's, it's, it's, it's definitely possible. Um A lot of them came over here when they were, you know, at a much lower level and uh just stay done all their training and now working as a consultant. So, yeah, definitely, definitely possible. Um Are there several intake sessions for applications? So yes, there are there, there are. So um I suppose there it all depends what state the you're applying to. They all have slightly different dates when I was having a quick look earlier. Um, but generally they have sort of two main intakes. So they tend to, um, the Australian jobs tend to work from January to January essentially instead of from sort of July, August to July August. So they have a big intake of jobs in sort of January time. Um, and they also, but they do take in a bit another intake in um sort of the end of the end of August as well. So what I did was I, I finished my internship in Ireland in July and I came over to Australia and sort of the middle of August. Um There are, if you want to come over in like March or October, um you can always apply to the hospital, you can always like email the hospital and ask them. But the central application process tends to be sort of either you come in January or you come in August. Um contracts can be so you can get 12 month contracts, you can get six month contract if you want something in between, I'd say apply for six month contract and email, email, the hospital and use can work something out. Um But yeah, the the intake dates know are slightly different depending on what stage you're applying to all the application process. Um They all open at slightly different times. So just keep an eye on that. Some of the places I was looking at earlier are sort of starting to open now for an intake in July. Um, applications kind of open in sort of January time for the intake in August. So about six months before applications tend open about six months before you want to start the job. Do you think experience in Australia is looked on favorably for specialty training in the UK? Um So I think it's certainly, it does like, I have like sort of anecdotal um evidence, I suppose from uh sort of consultants know who we're looking at people applying for specialist training in like UK and Ireland. Um They often felt that people who've been to Australia were, you know, very confident. Um That uh yeah, it's, it seems been a good healthcare system, very confident. Um If you want to do something like emergency medicine, Australia is sort of the country is supposed really to, to do for uh for emergency medicine. So you look, I think any sort of, um any experience in Australia is looked upon very favorably if you do want to go back home to do, to do specialist training. Uh Do you have to have done an A and E job in foundation years to be able to work in Australia? No, definitely do not. I have never worked in emergency department in Ireland. Um And I've, I'm currently working in one in Aust yet. So you definitely definitely do not. Um, if you have already started a training program in the UK, can you enter the formal, um, Australian training at an equivalent level a Kact to, to your specialty completed? Uh huh. To be honest, I'm not 100% sure. Um, you might be able to, um, but instead of going down the competent authority pathway, you might have to go down the, um, the specialist training, the specialist pathway for the opera. Let me see if I can bring up a slide a second. Uh um Let's see. Um This is something you might just have to look into on the upper website a bit more because I'm not 100% sure. Um But if I go to this side, um so yeah, over tree oversee trained specialists, um this sort of specialist papa, you might have to go down that um uh that didn't share. Sorry. Um But yeah, you might just have to look into that a bit more through opera, sorry for on the opera website because I'm not, I'm not 100% sure. And I don't want to reach down the wrong path. Does the tenure Moratorium have to be in a desolate area for 10 years or just the same hospital for years. So, no, it does have to be, it can't just be that you stay in the same hospital for 10 years. This is, this is also, it definitely applies for GP I'm not to be honest, I really don't understand how it works for non GP. Um But if you want to be a GP, you do have to work in somewhere Ruhr a while. So neural can be a town, like I said, like a couple of hours away from the city or it can be in the middle of nowhere. Um There's also, I think something sort of seen as an area of need so that can be somewhere in like say the middle of Sydney, which is just somewhere that they find really hard to get doctors that can also maybe apply. But to be honest, I'm, I spent a lot of time this afternoon this evening trying to understand it and I don't really, so I'm not sure, I'm very sorry. Um Is it easy to find site jobs or rotations? Yes, but there's definitely psych jobs here. Um Psychiatry is, it may be as popular as it is back home. Um I definitely friends, you're working in Psychiatry here. They love it. Um So yeah, definitely, definitely able to find jobs. Um Yes. So the 417 working visa is valid for 12 months, but you can only work for six months with one employer. So can you spend the full year at one hospital or would you have to switch after six months? So this is something. So when I came over they because of COVID and all they allowed you to stay with the one employer for 12 months on the 417 Visa. But what they might get you to do is work in the one hospital for six months. Then they can, the hospital can apply to let you stay for another six months on your working holiday visas. But your hospital has to sort this out. Um Or alternatively, they might tell you to come over originally on the 417 Visa and once you've been there for six months, they might agree to sponsor you for the 482. So that's for the, the skills shortage, visa. Um But yeah, look, I your, your hospital tends to sort that out. They tend of their own policies in ways they like to do things. Um How hard slash easy is it to get specialty training there? Um I mean, it's, it's like anything, it sort of, it depends what you want to do, um, how competitive things are, it's similar things, you know, surgeries obviously more tends to be very competitive. It all really just depends on what specialty you want to do but you're, you're, you're definitely eligible. Um Okay, sorry, somebody. So, uh Sophia, I think somebody has, has answered your question better than I have. Um Okay, when would you advise starting the whole application process and visa process if you're aiming for the January start? So I'd say have a look now um to see when the application process opens, um should be opening up shortly. Um I'd say try and start getting, you know, documents, start like having a CV, you know, hunting out your passport. Um, things like that. Um, yeah, the main thing to apply for first because I was having a look earlier to see sort of what sort of order I had to apply for things in. Um, and definitely the first thing I had to do was, you know, get a job, get referees, have a CV. Um, after that, then it was sort of, I, I tried to do my, the, the presentation sort of in order. So then after that, I then applied for the whole opera and getting my, my, um, degree verified and notified and then applying for a visa, um, in that sort of order. So, yeah, I'd start probably, maybe it's a little bit early but sort of July August. I definitely have a look and see where you want to go to and check out when their application dates open. Uh, when you apply for RMO jobs, could you choose which specialty ie cardiology you work in or would it be general medicine? And so, um, sort of, again, sort of depends on the hospital. So the hospital that I work in, um, when we had our jobs, then they asked us to sort of email them with a list of preferences of, um, you know, jobs that we would like to do like cardiology or general surgery and they try to accommodate due to, you know, sort of, some, some degree and, you know, if they have space for, you know, to be Arena RMO or whatever, um, they, they do try and get to, you know, people experience in the specialties that they're looking for. Um, but again, yeah, that was, um, yeah, so I, you kind of can apply for in western Australia anyway, you can apply to do, sort of a general job and then you, once you have your job, then you can ask to do surgery, you can ask to do medicine, you can ask to do whatever or you can just apply for a 12 month job to work in the emergency department. Um But yeah, it all just depends on where you are and what your plan for. But yeah, you can ask to work in certain specialties. Um So I'm just double checking that I haven't missed any questions. Um If anyone has any other questions, please feel free to ask. Um But look, thank you. Thank you so much for coming. Um Or do we maybe for more what's drink? Apologies if you mentioned this earlier? But did you mostly apply to jobs for the health careers website for the region? Know, I applied, I applied through the health careers website for Western Australia. So I let you you type in uh medical jobs, Western Australia. And um yeah, I applied through that portal and some of my friends um just emailed hospitals directly Um So you, you can do both, but I, the way I did it was through the, the, the Western Australia medical jobs portal. Uh What does your rotor look like in general? Okay. So I suppose it depends what you're doing. So, if I work in the emergency department and so I tend to work about 80 hours a fortnight. Um So for example, this week I'm off Thursday, Friday, I'm working four till 4 p.m. till 1 a.m. like Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. I then have teaching from 9 to 12 on a Wednesday. And then I'm working from 12 till half 10 next Thursday and Friday. Um It, it depends like there are like more normal jobs, like one of my friends um works five days a week, Monday to Friday 841 thing I would say is there tends to be more shift work over here, more working weekends and there would maybe be back home, which is, is good for patient's more of a um seven day healthcare. Um But yeah, look, it just depends what, what job you have, really, what your rotor looks like. Um What have I done? I'm sorry, I'm not very texts of a um Yeah, thank you all so much for coming. And if you guys could fill in the feedback form at the end um that they put up, that's up at the top that, that would be wonderful. Um But look, thank you all so much for coming and yeah, I hope you have, um, have enjoyed the, enjoy the rest of your evening. Um, thanks so much. I'll stay, I'm going to switch my camera, but I'll stay here a little bit longer in case anyone has any more questions. Okay, thanks now. Oh, no.