A Rural Generalist is a medical practitioner who is trained to meet the specific current and future healthcare needs of Australian rural and remote communities, in a sustainable and cost-effective way, by providing both comprehensive General Practice and emergency care and required components of other medical specialty care in hospital and community settings as part of a rural healthcare team.

Rural Generalist Medicine is a specific approach to General Practice that is particularly relevant to rural and remote communities. The Rural Generalist Medicine body of skills incorporates the skillset of General Practice and is specifically shaped to optimise medical service capacity in rural and remote clinical contexts.

As rural and remote settings are characterised by their restricted access to the range of services, staff and resources available in urban centres, Rural Generalists are skilled to perform a broad range of medical services, including some skills, ordinarily within the province of other specialties. They are trained to apply these services effectively in a low resource environment, including working in local healthcare teams and providing local medical leadership in managing patient support from health care specialists in urban centres.

Rural Generalist practitioners are thus a key component of the multi-professional teams that together can deliver the highest quality care in rural and remote communities, Rural Health Multidisciplinary Teams are described in the Ngayubah Gadan Consensus Statement which may include other rural GPs, other medical specialists, nurses, Indigenous health workers and allied health practitioners. 

• enable health services’ quality and safety and employment systems to consistently recognise and understand these doctors’ capacity and appropriately utilize their skills
• enable rural patients to better understand the training and capacity of their doctors
• simplify the processes for training, employment, and hospital credentialing for Rural Generalists (which are currently complex and onerous due to lack of coordination)
• provide a mechanism for Rural Generalists to be counted in rural workforce and resource planning
• focus academic effort to building the evidence-base for best practice Rural Generalist care
• make it easier to promote rural careers as RGs to the next generation.

An initial application for national recognition of Rural Generalist Medicine as a specialist field within the specialty of General Practice must is submitted to the Medical Board of Australia (MBA).

Stage 1 Initial assessment of application: The Stage 1 application describes the objectives of the proposal in broad terms. The MBA delegates to the Australian Medical Council (AMC) for assessment and advice and, following from this advice, determines whether a sufficient case has been made to demonstrate that the proposal is eligible to proceed to a Stage 2 assessment.

Stage 2 detailed assessment of application: A second application is submitted providing a more comprehensive overview of the proposal. The AMC assesses the detailed case for recognition of a new field of specialty practice on behalf of the MBA. This stage involves rigorous assessment of the case that includes a public consultation process and results in a recommendation being made to the Australian Health Ministers Committee for final approval. 

The new or amended specialist field becomes an approved specialist field under the National Law and will be added to the approved List of specialties, fields of specialty practice and related specialist titles. The Medical Board of Australia (MBA) will then decide on the approved qualification/s in the new or amended specialty for the purposes of specialist registration. Medical Colleges with programs of study in that field can apply to have these programs accredited with the Australian Medical Council (AMC) as a qualification in the specialist field.

The programs will be assessed against the approved accreditation standards for specialist medical training programs. If the AMC accredits a program of study in the new or amended specialist field, it provides a report to the MBA that will determine whether to approve the program as providing a qualification in the new or amended specialist field for the purposes of specialist registration. 

If the new or amended specialist field is recognised under the National Law, medical practitioners awarded an approved qualification in the recognised specialist field can apply for specialist registration. If a medical practitioner is granted specialist registration in the new or amended specialist field, it will be recorded in the Register of Medical Practitioners and the practitioner can use the protected title associated with the specialty.

As Rural Generalist Medicine is a specialist field within General Practice. It is expected that doctors with a nationally accredited qualification in this field would be both registered as specialist General Practitioners and specialists in Rural Generalist Medicine.

The public can search their doctor’s specialist registration details on the national Register of Practitioners. The public register provides assurance that medical practitioners with specialist registration are qualified in the recognised specialty. It also confirms that they have professional indemnity insurance and are complying with continuing professional development and recency of practice requirements.

The general practice colleges have different models for delivering rural generalist training.

• The ACRRM Fellowship qualification (FACRRM) is AMC accredited as a general practice qualification and is designed to reflect attainment of the requisite professional standards for the practice of Rural Generalist Medicine.
• RACGP has introduced a FRACGP-RG Fellowship qualification which is a general practice qualification designed to reflect the standards for Rural Generalist Medicine.

The two general practice colleges, ACRRM and RACGP, currently provide the training, continuing Professional Development and Fellowship qualifications which the Medical Board of Australia recognises for Vocational Registration purposes for specialist general practitioners. As Rural Generalist Medicine if recognised would be a specialist field within general practice, these existing arrangements would be extended to also apply to the new field.

This is the name the Commonwealth Department of Health have given to their commitment to constructing a national framework to support doctors to train, qualify and practice as rural generalist practitioners in a way that is structured and consistent and which enables portability across health services and jurisdictions.

Ultimate determinations will rest with the national committee of health ministers with advice from the Medical Board of Australia (Board).

If Rural Generalist Medicine is recognised as a new specialist field within general practice under the National Law, then doctors awarded an approved qualification in Rural Generalist Medicine will be able to apply for specialist registration in that field.

ACRRM RG Fellowship Program will be assessed through the AMC processes, and it is expected that it will be accredited and FACRRM will become an approved qualification in the new specialist field of Rural Generalist Medicine.  Currently, the ACRRM Fellowship Program is AMC accredited, and the FACRRM is an approved qualification, in general practice.

It is anticipated that as a FACRRM you would then be able to apply through Ahpra for registration as a specialist Rural Generalist and this would be held in addition to your registration as a specialist general practitioner.  Specialist registration in the new field of Rural Generalist Medicine, would be recorded in the Register of Medical Practitioners and would entitle you to use the protected title associated with the specialty.