GP numbers boost requires incentives overhaul: RACGP

GP registrars should be offered the same leave entitlements as their hospital counterparts, according to a renewed RACGP push to attract more doctors to the profession.
 
As part of its Pre-Budget Submission 2024–25, the college is calling on the Federal Government to fund paid parental and study leave for all doctors.
 
Additionally, it has urged the Commonwealth to fund 500 participants in the Fellowship Support Program and 600 in the Practice Experience Program (PEP) – Specialist Program.
 
The college submission comes as Australia continues to battle through a critical health worker shortage that is only expected to worsen.
 
Concerningly, it has been predicted that Australia will be short 10,600 GPs by 2031, while rural doctors are already describing staff shortages as ‘catastrophically worse’ in recent years.
 
In a bid to combat this unwanted trend, the RACGP says this year’s Federal Budget should invest in general practice through the funding of incentives and subsidised training.
 
It says this will better enable GPs to work within every community in Australia, while feeling supported and compensated.
 
RACGP Vice President Associate Professor Michael Clements told newsGP the Government needs to remove any barriers that junior doctors think about when choosing which specialty to enter.
 
‘We’re actually not really talking about a huge amount of money because if you think about it, the training is a two-year defined timeframe,’ he said. 
 
‘The investment it would require from the Government to secure paid parental leave during that time is only a small percentage of the overall investment in general practice, so it’s a very reasonable ask.
 
‘Certainly, there’s a number of people that say that it would make the difference between them entering GP training or not.’
 
The RACGP’s submission echoes calls from its colleagues at General Practice Registrars Australia (GPRA) and the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA), which are also pleading for increased funding.
 
GPRA says its Federal Budget priority is also to attract more graduates to the profession through a similar parental and study leave fund, with its registrars continuing to struggle.
 
New South Wales GP Registrar Dr Chris Dickie is about to sit his RACGP exams and said he has had to take an unpaid week off to study.
 
‘In the current cost of living context, a loss of a week’s wages just to prepare for my exam has made things on the home front just that little bit harder,’ he said.
 
‘My colleagues sitting hospital-based specialty exams have been astonished that we currently get no support of this type, and clearly this could be a barrier to recruiting GPs. I wish a solution was available now.’
 
The RACGP’s submission also said while the Government has made significant reforms and investment into primary care, this cannot succeed without a strong GP workforce. 
 
Labelling it a ‘perfect storm of factors’, it says GPs’ workload is increasing as they treat Australia’s ageing population and epidemic of chronic disease.
 
Associate Professor Clements said funding to support overseas doctors to work in Australia, and especially in rural and regional areas, is also a vital part of attracting more GPs to where they are needed most.
 
‘We accept that there’s no silver bullet and it’s going to take a piecemeal approach, but we’re only going to get there by listening to our membership and listening to our trainees,’ he said.
 
‘There’s an artificial barrier that the Government’s put in place and our overseas trained doctors, who provide over 50% of our workforce, are still being treated as second class citizens in terms of how they can train.
 
‘They’ve been asked to pay for their own training when we desperately need them, so that needs to change.’
 
RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins said rolling out incentives for both current and future GPs would give the workforce an immediate boost. 
 
‘Our government needs to act urgently to attract and retain this essential workforce – and we’re calling for measures to be actioned in the next Budget to give the workforce an immediate boost,’ she said.
 
‘This investment will boost the GP workforce both in the immediate future and in the long-term, because we know GPs who train in rural communities are more likely to choose to live there.’
 
The RACGP has already requested additional funding in this year’s Federal Budget, advocating for fully funded universal annual child health checks via MyMedicare registration for the first 2000 days.
 
It also wants a 20% increase to all Medicare rebates for Level C and D consultations with an additional increase applied to MMM 3–7, and funding for patients to see their GP within seven days of an unplanned hospital visit.  
 
The 2024–25 Federal Budget is expected to be handed down in May.
 
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