30 May 2014

Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor has welcomed funding in the Budget for more GP training in rural areas and says he will be pushing for part of that funding for Boorowa.

“I know we’ve had difficulty getting GPs to Boorowa. I lobbied hard during the election, bringing then Shadow Health Minister Peter Dutton to the electorate, for more incentives to bring GPs to our towns.

“I’m delighted there is now additional funding in the Budget of $35.4 million for the GP Rural Incentives Programme over two years including 2014-15. I will continue pushing for this commitment to be maintained so we can attract and retain more doctors in Boorowa,” Mr Taylor said.

“Boorowa has the opportunity to access funding in the Budget for rural GP training. 300 extra GPs will be trained in 2015 and at least 50% of those will be in rural and regional areas. As the training for these additional places is rolled out, it will be important to make sure the needs of rural communities are the focus and that the GPs involved are prepared to commit long term to rural areas.”

Mr Taylor welcomed details in the Budget about the Rural and Regional General Practice Teaching Infrastructure Grants program.

“Funding to the tune of $52.5 million has been confirmed in the Budget for local medical centres and GP practices to upgrade their facilities to take on more trainees. A minimum of 175 infrastructure grants will be made available, each capped at $300,000.

“This is great news for Hume, where there are a number of local medical centres looking to apply for this assistance when the program gets underway later in the year.”

Mr Taylor said the Government was also delivering on its commitment to provide around 500 new allied health and nursing scholarships for regional areas over three years.