RACGP National Rural Faculty
Training Grants for Rural and Remote Procedural and Emergency Medicine General Practitioners
Through its Strengthening Medicare initiatives, the Commonwealth Government is offering rural and remote procedural and emergency medicine general practitioners financial assistance to access skills maintenance and upskilling activities in their respective disciplines. GPs providing services in rural and remote areas but residing primarily in urban areas (eg locums, RFDS doctors) may be eligible for the Program.
Grants are being offered to general practitioners and locums who practice obstetrics, anaesthetics, surgery and / or emergency medicine in rural and remote locations.
The financial support is offered as a grant of $2000 per day for up to 10 days a year for procedural GPs in RRMA 3-7 and for up to 3 days a year for emergency medicine GPs in RRMA 3-7.
The program has recently been expanded to include RRMA 2 proceduralists, practising in surgery, anaesthetics and / or obstetrics and whose work is rural in nature even though they are based in regional centres such as Townsville, Gold Coast, Newcastle, Wollongong, Geelong, and Queanbeyan. Strict eligibility criteria apply.
RRMA 2 applicants will need to demonstrate they a) have unsupervised clinical privileges in obstetrics, anaesthetics or surgery, b) satisfy professional standards imposed by the hospital or Area Health Service and c) provide routine obstetric, anaesthetic or surgical cover including being regularly part of an on-call roster. All applications received from RRMA 2 proceduralists will be reviewed by the ACRRM/RACGP Collaboration overseeing the Procedural Grants Program for approval.
To access this program
General practitioners need to complete a Medicare Australia “Application to Register” form and provide documentation indicating they have Visiting Medical Officer (VMO) credentialing with a hospital or other appropriately equipped facility. Credentialing must be in one of the following areas: obstetrics, anaesthesia, surgery or emergency medicine.
Eligibility for the program is determined by the RACGP or ACRRM. An application form and guidelines can be downloaded here.
Should you have difficulty downloading these documents please contact Pauline Curtis on pauline.curtis@racgp.org.au or 1800 636 764 and she will email or fax these documents to you.
The RACGP will do the rest
Interested General Practitioners who wish to register through the RACGP should fax their application form and relevant documentation to Pauline on 08 8267 8359. The RACGP will process all registrations and will forward registration details of successful applicants to Medicare Australia who will maintain the register of eligible General Practitioners.
Once individual General Practitioners have been accepted into the program, they will be notified by the RACGP. Upon entry into the program, doctors can then claim payment for procedural and emergency medicine activities that are a minimum of six hours in duration (can be two times three hours).
Eligible educational activity may include supervised clinical attachments (forms available below), workshops and scientific conferences. The RACGP and ACRRM, in consultation with relevant external agencies, assess the eligibility of educational activities for inclusion in the Program. GPs are encouraged to contact the RACGP or ACRRM prior to registering for educational activities to confirm whether they are eligible for program support.
For more information contact
Pauline Curtis
Tel: FREECALL 1800 636 764; 08 8267 8351
Fax: (08) 8267 8359
Email:
pauline.curtis@racgp.org.au
Or follow the links below.
Related links
More information on Rural Training Grants
Frequently asked questions about Rural Training Grants
QA&CPD application forms including Supervised Clinical Attachment forms
The RACGP is not responsible for and does not necessarily endorse content on external sites.
