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Motivation & Insight into Medicine 15
Should doctors be paid more to work to work in rural areas?
Average Candidate Response
I believe that this would be a good policy and would help to reduce the shortage of doctors in rural areas.
Excellent Candidate Response
Rural areas in the UK often receive a different quality of healthcare compared to urban areas. Due to factors such as long distances for patients to travel and a difficulty to recruit and retain staff, patients in these areas often do not receive an optimal level of care, and may have to wait extended periods of time for routine health procedures as well as emergency interventions. For this reason, to encourage healthcare professionals to work in rural regions, it may be advantageous to pay them greater amounts to improve patient care.
However, there are potential risks of this idea. Firstly, given the fact that the NHS is currently under significant financial strain, such a policy could place it under more pressure, due to it being particularly expensive to increase doctors’ pay, especially on a nationwide scale. Secondly, whilst this scheme may improve waiting times, it may not necessarily improve patient accessibility to services. It must therefore be considered whether this policy would be worth the high cost, if such a significant obstacle in providing healthcare to patients would still remain. Finally, it may be argued that this costly proposal may address an issue in one geographic area, and merely create shortages in other (non-financially incentivised) areas.
I believe that this would be a good policy and would help to reduce the shortage of doctors in rural areas.
Excellent Candidate Response
Rural areas in the UK often receive a different quality of healthcare compared to urban areas. Due to factors such as long distances for patients to travel and a difficulty to recruit and retain staff, patients in these areas often do not receive an optimal level of care, and may have to wait extended periods of time for routine health procedures as well as emergency interventions. For this reason, to encourage healthcare professionals to work in rural regions, it may be advantageous to pay them greater amounts to improve patient care.
However, there are potential risks of this idea. Firstly, given the fact that the NHS is currently under significant financial strain, such a policy could place it under more pressure, due to it being particularly expensive to increase doctors’ pay, especially on a nationwide scale. Secondly, whilst this scheme may improve waiting times, it may not necessarily improve patient accessibility to services. It must therefore be considered whether this policy would be worth the high cost, if such a significant obstacle in providing healthcare to patients would still remain. Finally, it may be argued that this costly proposal may address an issue in one geographic area, and merely create shortages in other (non-financially incentivised) areas.