GPs take advocacy to Parliament floor

South Australia is the latest state to keep the wheels in motion for the RACGP’s chain of GPs@Parliament events that started last year.
 
On 15 October, marking a year since the inaugural SA event, GPs gathered at Adelaide’s Parliament House, on Kaurna Country, to meet with local politicians, provide basic health checks, and discuss ways to boost the state’s GP workforce and access to general practice.
 
RACGP SA Chair Dr Siân Goodson, who settled in Adelaide after completing her training in the UK, put forward solutions which include training incentives to attract overseas-trained doctors to live and work in SA, particularly in rural and remote areas of need.
 
‘There are opportunities to attract the specialist GPs we need to both metropolitan areas and our rural and remote towns,’ she said.
 
Dr Goodson says progress is being made among doctors who completed their medical degree in Australia, with 114 junior doctors beginning their specialist GP training in SA in 2025, marking a 34% increase from last year, and a 60% increase for those training on a rural pathway.
 
‘But Queensland and NSW welcomed twice the number of future GPs per person as SA on the RACGP’s Fellowship Support Program, which allows doctors who completed their medical degree overseas to fund their own GP training,’ she said.
 
‘If we offset their costs with $40,000 grants, we can incentivise these future GPs to move to and train in South Australia. These doctors practise outside metropolitan areas, so would be a significant boost for our rural GP workforce.
 
‘GPs are also more likely to stay where they train, so this is a long-term investment in health for all our communities.’
 
At the GPs@Parliament event, five RACGP representatives offered 15-minute health checks for politicians, including blood pressure and diabetes risk checks. They also used the time to discuss the importance of having a regular GP.
 
‘When patients see the same GP, their experience of healthcare is transformed,’ Dr Goodson said.
 
‘They rate their care as higher quality and better coordinated, they trust the health system more, and they live longer and healthier lives – that’s a benefit for both primary care and hospital care.’
 
Dr Goodson also said while telehealth with a patient’s usual GP is ‘a great option’ and offers flexibility, boosting access to after-hours general practice care is needed in her state, which the college continues to call for funding on.
 
‘After-hours GP grants would offset extra costs of staying open on weeknights and weekends to provide non-urgent general practice care,’ she said.
 
‘Too many people miss opportunities for non-urgent and preventive care because they can’t see a GP on weekdays. A small per-practice investment will mean more patients can access care from their usual specialist GP.
 
‘For $150,000 per practice per year to help cover the extra costs of after-hours services, more GPs can provide care until 8.00 pm on weeknights and on Sunday mornings.’
 
The SA GPs@Parliament event, including (top left, L–R): RACGP SA Chair Dr Siân Goodson, Dr Clare Keogh, Connie Bonaros, Dr Abaidullah Siddiqi, RACGP SA&NT New Fellows Committee Chair Dr Kay Flynn, Dr Penny Need. (Images: Dan Trimboli)

Also on the agenda at SA Parliament House was how to better connect city GPs with rural practices to improve care and reduce burnout for rural GPs.
 
The RACGP is calling for increased funding to enable more city GPs to regularly practise in rural and remote communities to build relationships and support rural GPs to take leave, through the Metro to Rural Practice Program.
 
Under the proposal, city GPs would be funded to train in rural medicine and establish a regular working schedule in a rural area, getting to know the local practice, hospital, and community.
 
‘While locum GPs, who fill in when a GP takes leave, help fill urgent workforce gaps, they can’t provide the same ongoing care as a GP who knows their patients,’ Dr Goodson said.
 
‘Our Metro to Rural Practice Program would allow metro-based GPs to work regular shifts in rural or regional clinics, helping replace temporary locum work with consistent care.
 
‘Everyone benefits – GPs from Adelaide will gain valuable experience and build relationships with communities, and patients will see a specialist GP they know when their usual GP takes a well-earned break.’
 
The 15 October GPs@Parliament event in SA was the last for 2025, with state-based events running again from early next year.
 
Log in below to join the conversation.
 

GP workforce GPs in Parliament GPs in training RACGP advocacy rural general practice