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How popular is the new GP expedited pathway?
AHPRA says it is receiving up to 15 applications each week from GPs since the pathway’s launch in October, with 80% coming from the UK.
The controversial expedited pathway launched for overseas GPs on 21 October 2024.
Almost 100 overseas-trained GPs have taken advantage of Australia’s new expedited pathway program since its launch in October, according to the regulatory agency.
New data from the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) revealed that in the first two months of the fast-tracked program, 96 internationally qualified GPs had applied.
As of 17 December 2024, five GPs had already been registered and the rest are ‘in the pipeline’ as their applications wait on additional evidence or information.
According to AHPRA, around 80% of applicants for the expedited pathway are from the United Kingdom and it is currently receiving between 10 and 15 applications each week from GPs.
The controversial program launched for on 21 October 2024, recognising the qualifications of eligible specialist international medical graduates (SIMGs) and granting them upfront registration to work in Australia.
GPs were the first healthcare professionals to be eligible under the new pathway, which allows doctors from the United Kingdom, Ireland, and New Zealand to apply for streamlined registration.
The pathway was designed to entice more medical specialists to work in Australia, as the country continues to battle a significant maldistribution of doctors.
According to AHPRA, it aims to ‘remove unnecessary regulatory barriers and increase the number of SIMGs seeing patients in Australia, while maintaining high standards’.
However, the RACGP has raised significant concerns about the program and the wraparound support it provides to GPs trained overseas moving to Australia.
RACGP President Dr Michael Wright acknowledged the significance of these additions to Australia’s GP workforce but stressed that these doctors need to be properly supported to thrive.
He said the complexities of Australia's health system, including understanding and complying with Medicare, and the practicalities of working in rural and regional areas, are unique to Australia.
‘These are some of the important areas that we must ensure all GPs are supported to understand,’ Dr Wright told newsGP.
‘It’s great to hear that more GPs want to work in Australia because we need more GPs, but we also need to be training our own doctors.
‘We need to be training more in Australia, which is why, in addition to this, we’re asking the Federal Government to fund more places here in Australia.
‘The RACGP is training more GPs than ever before, but we know we can train even more than that, and that’s why we’re asking for more training.’
The program expanded again on 23 December 2024, allowing eligible overseas-trained psychiatrists and anaesthetists to apply for registration directly to AHPRA.
The expanded pathway is open to eligible psychiatrists trained in the United Kingdom and anaesthetists from the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Internationally qualified specialist obstetricians and gynaecologists will become eligible from early 2025, while general medicine, general paediatrics, and diagnostic radiology will be the next priorities for the expedited pathway later in the year.
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AHPRA Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency IMGs international medical graduates
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