Toowoomba hosts first RACGP Fellowship ceremony

For the first time, the RACGP has hosted a Fellowship ceremony in Toowoomba, 130 kilometres west of Brisbane, welcoming dozens of new GPs to the profession.
 
The weekend’s ceremony saw 57 new Fellows and two Rural Generalists of the RACGP officially embarking on the next stage of their careers after around 11 years of education, training, and hard work.
 
‘It was an honour to return to my home state of Queensland and congratulate our newly awarded Fellows in Toowoomba,’ said RACGP President Dr Michael Wright.
 
The ceremony was also attended by a long list of politicians and health decisionmakers, including Queensland Treasurer and local member for Toowoomba South David Janetzki, member for Toowoomba North Trevor Watts, and Federal member for Groom Garth Hamilton.
 
RACGP Queensland Chair Dr Cathryn Hester also congratulated Australia’s newest GPs on their achievement.
 
‘These new GPs will make a vital difference to general practice care and patients across Queensland,’ she said. 
 
‘I can tell you from personal experience that being a GP is such a rich and rewarding career, and this Fellowship ceremony featured some inspiring life stories that bode well for the future of general practice care.’
 
The Fellowship ceremony comes after a long-running effort from the RACGP and governments alike to attract more junior doctors into general practice.
 
Last year, the college’s incentive placements put 177 registrars in areas of urgent need across rural and regional Australia.
 
However, Dr Wright said much more is needed to address the country’s GP workforce shortages.
 
‘As a medical college, one of our core roles is education and GP training, as well as advocating for policies that ensure all Australians can access timely, high-quality general practice care from a GP they know and trust,’ he said.
 
‘We applauded the Federal Government’s recent workforce commitment to train more GPs every year and incentivise more junior doctors to choose the GP path – all commitments matched by the Opposition.
 
‘However, the job is far from done … only by boosting patient rebates, including for longer consultations, can we put general practice care on a more sustainable, and viable long-term footing.’
 
Dr Wright said the RACGP will also continue to urge state and local governments to work together and offer incentives such as housing, childcare, and spousal employment to ‘boost the attractiveness of working as a GP outside of capital cities’.
 
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Fellowship FRACGP new Fellows Queensland regional workforce