ACRRM says GP Incentive Review misses the mark for rural doctors

ACRRM says the recently released Review on General Practice Incentives poses a serious risk to stunting the growth of Minister Butler’s “green shoots” - the future rural doctors and the Rural Generalists (RG) and specialist rural General Practitioners (GP) they work and train with.

As the only College focused on providing high quality healthcare standards and training in rural, remote and First Nations communities, ACRRM has long advocated for systemic reform to incentivise doctors who provide much needed healthcare to these vulnerable populations.

ACRRM President Dr Dan Halliday says this review is a chance to make a real difference to attracting and retaining RGs and specialist rural GPs where they are most needed. 

“RGs and specialist rural GPs are equipped with the specialised skills needed to provide primary care as well as in locally based areas of clinical need, including obstetrics, emergency care, mental health, surgery, anaesthetics, and more,” Dr Halliday says.

“The College has advocated over many years to ensure the Workforce Incentives Program (WIP) recognises and rewards the advanced skills and responsibilities of RGs and specialist rural GPs.

“The review is proposing to redirect these payments from practitioners to practices.

“Without a guarantee that these rural incentive payments will be passed on to rural doctors, it becomes even harder to promote rural jobs and there is a real risk of losing RGs and specialist rural GPs.

“If we are to build a sustainable vision for thriving rural health services, we must deliver a policy framework which values, attracts and retains skilled and committed doctors to practice there.

“There is a real risk with the framework suggested in the report, that the green shoots will wither and dry up”, Dr Halliday says.   

Despite the concerns raised, ACRRM is prepared to consider that the review does however propose further reforms, some of which appear to have some merit for rural communities. The College welcomes the opportunity to engage further and will actively contribute to ongoing discussions.