11 July 2014

Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor says increased places for rural GP training shows the Government’s commitment to getting more GPs into regional towns.

Mr Taylor said 300 new training places under the Australian General Practice Training (AGPT) program were announced in the Budget and sixty-two per cent of those places would be allocated to rural areas commencing in 2015.

“As 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.

“The Rural Doctors Association has expressed concern that funding for the Prevocational General Practice Placements Program (PGPPP) has been stopped, however that program was expensive.

“A GP taking part in the twelve week (on average) PGPPP, cost approximately $55,000. Each of the additional 300 places under the AGPT will cost the same amount of money but over a 12 month training placement.”

Mr Taylor said the PGPPP was implemented to encourage junior doctors in hospitals to take up careers in general practice. Since then, interest in general practice careers has increased significantly. He said the expanded AGPT program had the same distribution objectives as PGPPP and would offset the PGPPP workforce.

Mr Taylor added that he was personally pushing hard to change the classification system relating to rural GP incentives.

“This is a big issue for general practice in the Cowra district. Cowra should receive a fairer share of incentive funding to encourage more GPs into the area.”