The Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP) New South Wales and ACT Chair, Dr Rebekah Hoffman, is visiting GP clinics across the New England region to discuss how to further improve rural general practice care so that no patients miss out.
Dr Hoffman said it was vital that the voice of rural GPs and practice team members was heard.
"It was great to visit Armidale and Tamworth to listen to GPs, practice team members and patients about local general practice care, what is working well, and where more support is needed," she said.
"As the largest representative body for rural GPs in Australia, the College will always fight for a fair go for rural communities so that all patients can get the care they need, when they need it. The New England region, including towns such as Tamworth, Armidale, Moree and Gunnedah, secured two registrar GPs in the last Australian General Practice Training, or AGPT. in-take. This will be a great opportunity for them on their journey to becoming specialist GPs, and in future in-takes we're aiming to secure higher numbers in the region.
"It is positive news that there are 21 Fellowship Support Program trainees, which is a separate self-funded education and training program for registrars, in the New England area. I wish them all the best, and I'm sure they will make the most of this tremendous opportunity. Rural GPs take on so many varied skills and responsibilities, such as staffing the local hospital emergency department or providing obstetrics and postnatal care for mums and paediatric care for kids, as well as being the first point of contact for patients with mental health concerns. It's no wonder they are so highly valued in their communities."
Dr Hoffman said that supporting rural GPs and practice teams is the highest of priorities for the College.
"All patients in rural areas deserve strong access to general practice care," she said.
"We applauded the Federal Government's recent workforce commitment to train more GPs every year and incentivise more junior doctors to choose the GP path, including salary incentives for junior doctors to specialise in general practice, and levelling up entitlements for registrars such as parental leave so that they're on par with other specialities.
"The RACGP's own incentives successfully placed 177 GPs in training in rural communities that had not had a registrar in years. We're dedicated to further improving registrar numbers in the New England region, which is why we added Armidale to our 'incentivised list' as an identified area of workforce need, which means that registrars will receive a financial incentive to train in the region. Not only that, we're increasing the financial incentive for registrars to train in Moree, Wee Waa, and Glen Innes to the maximum of $45,000. Current registrars are doing a great job, but let's go even further to help secure the future of patient care."
The NSW and ACT Chair called for even greater action.
"There are positive steps government can and should take to help boost rural general practice care, and it's our aim to work constructively with all levels of government to help make that happen," she said.
"We must fix the 'broken pipeline' and ensure medical students have a way to continue training regionally as they move into their postgraduate years. So, we continue to urge state and local governments to work together and offer incentives such as housing, childcare, spousal employment and other benefits to boost the attractiveness of working as a GP in a rural or remote area and make the transition as smooth as possible. We also repeat our calls for government to facilitate more regional and rural placements for medical school students.
"In addition, we call on federal and state governments to provide additional support to rural practices taking on GPs in training. This could include not only support for infrastructure enhancements, but even financial incentive payments to practices taking on registrars. Practices may opt to use these funds for measures to attract more registrars, or improve their training set-up to make it more attractive for prospective GPs in training.
"This financial incentive will be particularly beneficial for GP Supervisors, the GPs responsible for supervising and training our registrars. By encouraging GPs to be accredited and properly structured to take on the responsibility of supervising registrars, we can help ensure that there are plenty of practices for registrars to choose from. There's no substitute for the care you receive from a local GP in your town, who knows you, and your history."
