The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) is excited to reach the milestone of training all registrars on its Rural Generalist (RG) Fellowship program, with College-led Training officially starting tomorrow.

ACRRM president Dr Dan Halliday says transition of the Australian General Practice Training (AGPT) program from Registered Training Organisations to the College has been achieved through collaboration, a registrar centric approach, and the ability to expand on an already successful training and education delivery model.

“Tomorrow is a very important day for ACRRM, and for the future of RG training and education,” Dr Halliday says.

“We are excited to welcome AGPT registrars to our existing program and commit to providing them with direct wrap-around support that gives them every opportunity to achieve their Fellowship, build valuable peer networks through collegiate experiences, and become highly skilled RGs who can make a real difference to the healthcare of communities where they are in high demand.”

Since forming 25 years ago, ACRRM has worked towards the vision of training all registrars, regardless of their funding program. To prepare for ACRRM-led Training, the College expanded its footprint in the regions, more than doubling clinical and administrative support teams and the number of accredited training posts. More than 85 per cent of roles are already filled with growth anticipated over time.

“We have many years’ experience delivering a highly regarded Fellowship program, and successfully transitioned AGPT registrars in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, and Tasmania in August last year,” Dr Halliday says

“So, while it is the first day of a new era, it is far from day one of our experience.

“We recognise and thank the RTOs for their work training AGPT registrars until this point.

“And, we thank the Department of Health and Aged Care and Royal Australian College of General Practitioners for their cooperation to achieve College-led Training today.

“While we take this moment to celebrate, we will always focus on our vision of having the right doctors in the right places with the right skills delivering excellent healthcare to rural and remote, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities where much work still remains to bring equity of access across the nation,” Dr Halliday says.

ENDS