Think tank explores ways to improve GP workforce

On 20 February, RACGP WA hosted an advocacy session, the ‘University Think Tank: Raising the Prestige of General Practice’ to bring together the three universities in Western Australia that offer medicine as a degree for a solutions-based collaborative session.
 
RACGP WA Chair Dr Ramya Raman told newsGP the event, which had 47 attendees, was modelled on last year’s think tank held in South Australia and the reality that workforce recruitment and retention is not limited to state-based issues.
 
‘It’s broader than that, and we wanted to really bring together a similar concept here in Western Australia,’ she said.
 
‘The purpose and the intent of the university think tank is based on the context of primarily, which we all know … there’s a declining interest in medical students particularly choosing general practice as a career.
 
‘Obviously strengthening primary care is a key focus for both our Federal and state governments, and part of that pipeline is also encompassing the medical student component in that process.’
 
The RACGP’s Health of the Nation report 2023 reveals that 13.1% of medical students report general practice as their preferred career choice, a drop from 13.8% in 2021, while the number entering the Australian General Practice Training (AGPT) Program is also trending downwards.
 
Dr Raman says events such as the WA think tank are good opportunities to raise the discussion around the benefits of college-led training, with applications for the 2025 AGPT Program opening 4 March.
 
‘Specifically, with the college having got back training for the last year, we felt that this would be an important area to be focusing on [at the think tank] and an opportunity to actually bring together various stakeholders and government,’ she said.
 
Among those at the event were WA politicians Simon Millman, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health (representing the Health Minister); Senator Jordon Steele-John, Greens Senator for Western Australia; Dr Jags Krishnan, GP and Parliamentary Secretary to the State Premier; and
Dr Simon Towler, Chief Medical Officer for WA Department of Health.
 
In a WA Legislative Assembly on 21 February, Mr Millman raised a discussion about the previous day’s think tank, describing it as ‘a brilliant forum’ he was ‘fortunate enough’ to attend.
 
‘In order to deal with the provision of primary care and the promotion of general practice as a field of endeavour for medical students, the college got together various stakeholders ... to talk about how we can facilitate and advance and encourage more students to get into general practice,’ he said at the Legislative Assembly.
 
‘Primary care is the responsibility of the Federal Government … [and] we agree with the RACGP that it’s imperative that the healthcare system is functioning efficiently and effectively between the state and federal levels, so we [the WA Government] are working collaboratively with stakeholders, students, universities, and the RACGP to identify what we can do to facilitate and promote greater access to primary care.’
 
Medical students, university heads and RACGP members also joined the think tank, which Dr Raman said aimed to have the three universities come up with ‘practical and tangible outcomes’.
 
‘These outcomes would be integrated or implemented by the universities, as well as the wider health ecosystem, which would include the college, the stakeholders who are involved as an integral part of general practice, as well as the Government,’ she said.
 

(L–R) Dr Ramya Raman, RACGP WA Manager Hamish Milne, University of Notre Dame Medicine Discipline Leader Prof Jane Courtney, Dean of UWA Medical School Prof Brendan McQuillan, Associate Dean of Curtin Medical School Dr Katherine Bowron. (Image supplied)

Determining what can be done better in the state in terms of workforce recruitment and retention and raising the profile of general practice among medical students, GPs and non-GP specialists were high priority items on the agenda.
 
‘The three key priorities and the takeaways were around that we need to be able to provide education upskilling and processes to supervise those who are supervising medical students,’ Dr Raman said.
 
‘And that way, the student experience as well as the practice experience can be better improved, and that gets broken down into various things, including better renumeration, or universities engaging with the practices – not suggesting that they’re not, but just these are also areas for improvement.’
 
One area Dr Raman said resonated through the evening was the cultural change that is needed within the entire health system.
 
‘Medical students are often observing and hearing about how non-GP specialists are engaging with GPs and what their views are, what their opinions are,’ she said.
 
‘They spoke about the fact there needs to be a whole culture change within the health system and the perceptions and the discussions that occur about GPs.

‘There’s also a need for better infrastructure to allow GPs in primary care to teach effectively to the students, so reducing the administrative burden of taking medical students and reducing the administrative burden for GPs will ultimately mean medical students will be able to engage better with the team as well.’
 
Key outcomes from the RACGP WA’s ‘University Think Tank: Raising the Prestige of General Practice’ are currently being collated to be published as three tangible actions.
 
‘We want these actions to be achieved within 12 months to improve the profile of general practice and to encourage more medical students to choose general practice,’ Dr Raman said.
 
‘The entire intent is to get the three themes out – this is a very key advocacy piece for the college.’
 
*Captions for main photo:
Left: Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health Simon Millman, RACGP WA Chair Dr Ramya Raman, hospital intern Dr Phoebe Blaxill, Dean of UWA Medical School Prof Brendan McQuillan, AMA WA President Michael Page; Top right: Senator Jordon Steele-John, Dr Belinda Wozencroft, Dr Tim Bates, Dr Greg Sweetman, Curtin University Medical School student Jayden Allsopp, Dr Denise Findlay, Dr Ramya Raman; Bottom right: Dr Phoebe Blaxill, 2023 RACGP WA Council student representative, presenting.
 
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advocacy general practice workforce medical students university think tank Western Australia