Where have all the female GPs gone?

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Three years ago, I discovered the most wonderful female GP.

She's empathetic. She's patient. She doesn't dismiss my chronic pain; she's thorough with testing; and her referrals to specialists are always spot-on.

She even — wait for it — bulk-bills me most of the time.

She's a rare commodity. So much so that she's booked out weeks in advance — and when local friends ask for recommendations, I'm tempted to hold my tongue.

Watch: Australian women launch class action against doctors and clinicians over failed breast cancer diagnosis. Post continues below. 

Because the truth is, there's not enough of my wonderful GP to go around.

It can feel like female GPs are hard to find … and really thorough, affordable ones who bulk bill or have a minimal gap fee? They're unicorns.

So, why is it so hard to book in with a female GP? 

Female GPs are in hot demand. And it's not just because many women feel more comfortable getting pap smears and breast exams from another doctor, although that's part of it.

It's also because female doctors can be great for patients. For example, one US study found female heart attack patients treated by male doctors were more likely to die, for example.

Compared to male GPs, female GPs also tend to see more complex patients, attend to more problems per visit, and spend more time on preventative health, as I learned when researching my podcast, Beyond Hysterical.

Research shows they can adopt a more patient-centred communication style — and that's a huge drawcard for women who have been burned by patronising, dismissive male doctors in the past.

With two in three Australian women having felt dismissed or brushed off as "drama queens" or "hysterical" when seeking healthcare, medical gaslighting is rife.

And it's harmful: recent research out of Cambridge University found that "symptom invalidation" can cause medical trauma, as well as suicidality, self-doubt, shame, depression, anxiety, a loss of trust in the medical system, and delayed diagnosis.

While there's no definitive research to prove that female GPs take women's pain and symptoms more seriously, in a system riddled with medical misogyny, it makes sense that some women might feel safer consulting a female GP.

Why is it so hard to find a bulk-billing GP?

Many of us have been there: you find the holy grail – a great, thorough female GP with availability — but get slapped with an $80 fee, even after the Medicare rebate.

This can feel frustrating, and puts medical care out of reach for some Australians. But here's the thing: it's not your GP's fault.

Medicare pays a certain amount per consultation for a patient to see a GP — and currently, Medicare rebates for GP consultations are low, as they haven't kept up with inflation.

The current Medicare setup also prioritises short, single-issue appointments — which are not ideal for women patients with complex, overlapping health concerns.

Medicare also pays a smaller rebate, compared to general physical health appointments, for mental health, pregnancy, and women's health appointments — all issues more often seen by female GPs. (It's no wonder Medicare has been accused of having sexism "baked into" it.)

All this puts GPs in a tricky bind, as Sydney-based specialist GP Dr Imaan Joshi tells me.

"One of the two parties has to suffer if you want the kind of slow medicine that would benefit women by and large," says Dr Joshi, who works in women's health, menopausal health and procedural work involving skin. 

"Either the doctor has to take a massive pay cut if we accept the rebate as full payment, or the patient has to have the means to pay for it, which would then disproportionately disadvantage the most vulnerable in our society.

"We probably need to allow for some way of doctors being able to care for women without worrying about watching the clock."

The Australian Medical Association and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners have called for longer GP appointments to better support patients.

Another reason it's so damn hard to book in with a thorough, affordable female GP?

Female GPs are more likely to leave their jobs than their male counterparts — especially female GPs under 40 with young kids, Monash University research has found.

Why? Partly because, as a career, medicine isn't very accommodating for female doctors juggling pregnancy and parenting.

"Progressively, women just drop out because it's just too hard or they have to make that very difficult decision of, 'do I prioritise my career or having children?'," says Dr Joshi, who has previously written for Mamamia about why women doctors leave the profession.

For GPs pursuing further specialty training in order to develop specific skills, there are added pressures around work hours.

"Part-time training is frowned on for most specialty training. So you're expected to work full time in order to make it through," she said.

"There were some of my colleagues who had excessive nausea during pregnancy, and they would have a drip in and be doing ward rounds. We were expected to work and to function … because it was just expected that if you wanted to compete with the male colleagues, that's what you had to do."

On top of all this, there's a gender pay gap in medicine. Female GPs earn 25 per less less, on average, than male GPs, according to University of Melbourne research.

Combine doing more for patients with earning less — and struggling to find flexibility around childcare responsibilities? And it's no surprise female GPs aren't always easy to find.

"A lot of female GPs are feeling burnt out and distressed and many of us are leaving the profession as a whole," says Dr Joshi.

… All of which makes me want to buy my GP some flowers.

Or, perhaps more meaningfully, campaign for female doctors to be better supported and better paid – like the absolute life-savers they are.

You can listen to Grace's podcast Beyond Hysterical on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Feature Image: Getty