County Seeks Psychiatrists
A staffing agency would provide psychiatrists on a contract basis to San Luis Obispo County under an agreement county mental health officials were expected to present to the county board of supervisors on Tuesday, the San Luis Obispo Tribune reports.
The county currently has three vacant psychiatrist positions, out of a possible 6.5 positions. Two open positions are because of resignations, and the other is a new position created using funds from Proposition 63, a 2004 initiative that provides mental health care funding.
The county will continue recruiting permanent staff psychiatrists, but a hiring campaign that began in Jan. 2005 has not yielded qualified applications, the Tribune reports.
Contract psychiatrists would be paid $166.25 hourly, a higher hourly rate than staff psychiatrists are paid. Annual salaries for top county psychiatrists are $166,608 (Arnquist, San Luis Obispo Tribune, 9/26).