Update on RG Fellowship accreditation

The RACGP has officially submitted its application to deliver a Rural Generalist (RG) Fellowship training program, as progress on the new pathway gains momentum.
 
Following the recognition of rural generalism as a sub-specialty of general practice in September, the college is now seeking accreditation from the Australian Medical Council (AMC) for the new program.
 
RACGP Rural Chair Associate Professor Michael Clements welcomes the update, telling newsGP it has been a ‘long journey getting to this point’.
 
‘I’m very pleased the RACGP accreditation team has been working with the AMC in recent months in submitting to them the information to prove that the standards we’ve set, trained to and maintained with the FRACGP–RG do meet this new recognised definition of rural generalism,’ he said.
 
The RACGP’s ‘comprehensive’ application addresses the accreditation standards outlined by the AMC, which aim to provide independent assurance of medical education quality.
 
It also demonstrates the quality of the college’s flexible, supportive and locally delivered RG training program.
 
During several years of advocacy and a joint application from the RACGP and Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) to gain recognition of rural generalism as a specialty within general practice, the RACGP expanded its training with the 2022 launch of the RG Fellowship, or Fellowship of the RACGP–RG (FRACGP–RG).
 
The RG Fellowship replaced the Fellowship in Advance Rural General Practice (FARGP) and is designed to deliver more highly trained specialist GPs with additional skills to rural and remote communities.
 
It features a strengthened emergency medicine component, including a new core emergency medicine training curriculum, and updated Additional Rural Skills Training curricula across all disciplines.
 
GPs who hold FARGP can apply for recognition of prior learning and experience to obtain FRACGP–RG.
 
Associate Professor Clements says there are ‘multiple stages’ in the process to apply for accreditation to the independent national standards body for medical education and training.
 
‘This includes being able to recognise our program as training people to that end point, as well as a direct route to those who have already been awarded our FARGP to be able to be listed on the specialist register.
 
‘The submission is comprehensive, and there is a lot of work to this, but it’s very pleasing to see these negotiations going on.
 
‘We certainly do hope over the next months and in this year, we will see some tangible outcomes where people will be able to have the contribution they make to the rural communities with this skill set, and we look forward to that being recognised in paper and in writing on the AHPRA registration.’
 
Last year’s formal recognition meant that rural generalism would be incorporated as a new specialist field of general practice into the national law and onto the national register of specialties.
 
Doctors with an approved RG Fellowship qualification are able to apply for specialist registration.
 
The RACGP continues to work closely with ACRRM – with each college providing their own independent submission for accreditation and training standards.
 
‘We are working together,’ Associate Professor Clements said.
 
‘And we are working with the Rural Health Commissioner in terms of, how do we move forward as a group, in partnership with ACRRM for RG recognition, for RG skills, including the opportunity for new skills to be developed and recognised.’
 
The AMC will now review the college’s submission, with an update expected by mid-2026.
 
The process does not change current training, enrolment or Fellowship arrangements for RG trainees or Fellows, and the RACGP will continue to keep members informed as the process progresses.
 
More information about the RG Fellowship is available on the RACGP website.  
 
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