A small shire in Western Australia is offering over $800,000 to attract a doctor.

The contract for a GP in the Shire of Quairading, 160 kilometres east of Perth, expires on March 14, and a shortage of doctors in regional WA has the council concerned for the future.

It has proposed a package that includes a fully maintained and stocked medical clinic, a four-bedroom family home and a salary of $300,000.

Shire President Peter Smith says the town must retain a local doctor.

“We have a hospital in town that our doctor services, we have a pharmacy,” he said.

“There is potential that if we lose our doctor, then the viability of the hospital and the pharmacy comes into question.

“So there is a significant potential knock-on effect of not having a GP.”

Rural Health West deputy chief executive Kelli Porter says more remote towns are often the hardest hit by doctor shortages.

“The Wheatbelt has the highest incidence of solo GPs working in solo clinics anywhere in Western Australia,” she says. 

“We see the Wheatbelt shires often have to step up and provide some form of package, maybe financial, or a combination.

“We also see that occurring in parts of the Midwest and in the Goldfields too.”

Ms Porter said state and federal governments need to come up with better incentives for doctors to take jobs in the regions.

“There just simply aren't enough GP candidates interested in working in rural WA and our GP candidate resources are diminishing,” she said.

“We'd like to see some stronger government policy that would push doctors and encourage them to work in country WA more.

“It's sometimes about money, but not always - there's a lot of lifestyle factors that concern doctors going to country areas as well.”