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Training quality praised among future GPs
More than 18,000 medical trainees have been quizzed on their training experiences – revealing overall satisfaction, but room for improvement persists.
Around 81% of RACGP registrars report good work–life balance, compared with national averages of 70% across all training programs.
The country’s next generation of GPs continues to rate the experience and quality of their training highly, according to a fresh insight into medical education in Australia.
On Tuesday, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) released its 2025 Medical Training Survey report, uncovering the experiences of 18,276 doctors in training between 4 August and 9 October 2025.
However, it also found a negative culture persists within medicine, with bullying, discrimination, harassment and racism reported – a culture AHPRA labelled ‘unacceptable’.
Of the 18,000-plus respondents, 2112 were with the RACGP on the Australian General Practice Training Program, with 86% recommending their current training position to other doctors and their current workplace as a place to train – compared to an overall national average of 83%.
Specifically, RACGP registrars rated as ‘excellent/good’ the quality of their:
- orientation (82%)
- teaching sessions (87%)
- clinical supervision (89%)
- training to raise patient safety concerns (91%).
Additionally, 84% feel the RACGP supports flexible training, and 81% reported good work–life balance, compared with national averages of 70% across all training programs.
Around 90% said their workplace supports wellbeing, compared to 84% of national responses.
RACGP President Dr Michael Wright told
newsGP these results further reflect the college’s
successful training program and commitment to supporting registrars.
‘By all measures, satisfaction with our training program is higher than average, which is great,’ he said.
‘And that really reflects the experiences we’ve been hearing from our registrars in our
registrar survey that show they are reporting a really good experience, but there’s always room to improve.’
The annual survey is designed to promote better understanding of the quality of medical training and identify areas of improvement. It also informs solutions to current issues impacting on patient safety, including workplace culture, unacceptable behaviours and poor supervision.
RACGP GPs in Training Chair Dr Rebecca Loveridge also welcomed this year’s results, particularly around registrar wellbeing.
‘The survey has once again shown us that GP training through the RACGP is an excellent choice for doctors seeking flexibility and great work–life balance,’ she told
newsGP.
‘More specifically, only 25% of RACGP registrars report working over 40 hours per week compared to 58% of trainees nationally, which leaves more time for self-care, wellbeing activities, and life outside of work – the importance of which can’t be understated when 41% of respondents are parents.’
An improvement on the college’s communication metrics compared to last year’s survey is another win Dr Loveridge points out.
‘This was a key advocacy priority of the GPs in Training faculty throughout 2024,’ she said.
‘I suspect prioritising this, in addition to promoting the importance of the registrar liaison officers since they moved under the faculty at the start of 2025, has been influential here.
‘Looking forward, increasing opportunities for teaching, research and leadership within GP training is a key focus of the GPs in Training faculty for 2026 and beyond – and I hope to see progress here soon.’
Despite overall positive feedback year on year, a negative medical culture still being reported in the survey confirms improvement is needed, with bullying, harassment, discrimination and racism reported as experienced or witnessed in 2025.
Medical Board of Australia Chair, Dr Susan O’Dwyer said the ‘deficits in the culture of medicine reported by trainees are firmly anchored to wider community attitudes and behaviours’.
‘The fault lines in the culture of medicine run deep,’ she said.
Among all 18,000 respondents, the rate of bullying, discrimination, racism and harassment, including sexual harassment, remains unchanged at an average of 30%.
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander trainees, the rate was almost double at 56%, with 38% reporting they experienced and/or witnessed racism.
Interns and specialist non-GP trainees report having witnessed and/or experienced unacceptable behaviours nearly 20% more often than international medical graduates and GPs in training.
Unacceptable behaviour by patients and their families or carers is now being reported at the same rate as unacceptable behaviour by senior medical staff, at 46% for both.
Dr Loveridge says these results confirm the need to address and improve workplace culture.
‘Experiences of bullying and racism continue to be unacceptably high, with less than half of incidents being reported,’ she said.
‘Of those who did report, most were satisfied with the outcome – which is a mismatch with the reasons for not reporting (most commonly concerns about repercussions or feeling nothing would be done), so more work is required in this space.’
Future career intentions is another noteworthy dataset flagged by Dr Wright, with the report showing that 11% of interns are interested in a specialist training program with the RACGP and 4% with the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, from a total of 89% of interns.
Almost 90% of prevocational and unaccredited trainees are intending to become a specialist, with 18% of these interested in pursuing a general practice specialty from the RACGP.
RACGP registrars intend to work in:
- rural general practice (47%)
- medical teaching (46%)
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health (34%)
- medical research (20%).
A total of 7% of college registrars are considering a future outside of medicine in the next 12 months.
With the 2025 AHPRA survey building on trends from previous years, Dr Wright says the future is promising for college-led training.
‘The results continue to confirm what we’re hearing, and that is more and more junior doctors are choosing general practice, and those that do are having a really positive experience through the training program,’ he said.
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