Costs must be covered for GPs travelling to rural areas: RACGP

A Pathways to Rural program must be funded to pay for the travel and training costs of city-based GPs to spend four weeks per year practising in the country, says the RACGP.
 
The college is calling on the Federal Government to spend $2.8 million annually to cover money spent by GPs to commute to rural settings.
 
Asked for as part of its 2026–27 Federal Budget wish list, the RACGP says a Pathways to Rural program would deliver an extra 600 weeks of GP care for rural communities every year.
 
RACGP Rural Chair Associate Professor Michael Clements said the program would also allow metro-based GPs to bring new skills to rural areas.
 
‘The idea is that rural practices tell us what they need, and city GPs tell us what their interests are,’ he said.
 
‘We match them up and Pathways to Rural funds their travel and any training required to meet those needs.
 
‘Rural practices are often in areas with limited access to secondary care – training could include things like specific chronic disease management, reproductive care including IUD insertions, or ADHD diagnosis and management.’
 
If implemented, the RACGP says its Pathways to Rural program would save the healthcare system around $4.4 million per year from reduced use of locum doctors.
 
College President Dr Michael Wright says he pitched the idea to several MPs while visiting Canberra for GPs@Parliament and it has so far been ‘met with enthusiasm’.
 
‘It makes sense to them – it’s easy to see the benefit of patients in their electorates receiving continuity of care from the same specialist GP,’ he said.
 
‘If you’re a GP in the city, moving to practise rurally can mean uprooting your whole life, as well as travel expenses and extra training.
 
‘Pathways to Rural would cover those costs so rural practices don’t have to, while giving more GPs an opportunity to give rural practice a go.’
 
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