AGPT moving forward

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The move to college-led training

The Australian General Practice (AGPT) program will transition to the GP colleges from February 1, 2023, in a profession-led training approach.

This move will provide general practice with a nationally consistent approach, similar to other medical speciality training. It will ensure excellence in GP training across the country.

The new model will better align registrars to where they are most needed in the community across the nation, to meet the needs of the Australian public.

Benefits from the new model

The new model will provide benefits for:

The community – by ensuring GPs practice where they are most needed.

Registrars – by delivering a more personalised and flexible training pathway that will create a better training experience, making general practice a more attractive career choice.

General practice supervisors – by aligning professional development and payments nationally while providing a local point of engagement for training administration and delivering targeted support to strengthen supervisor capability in areas of need.

Medical educators and training coordinators - by delivering improved support, professional development and a clear career pathway.

Addressing rural and regional Australia's workforce need

Our commitment to a well-distributed GP workforce is reflected in the design of our training model. It addresses issues of workforce need through training pipelines, particularly in rural and remote areas and in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.

The RACGP model has a dedicated capacity for workforce priority planning integrated with training activities and capabilities to address workforce needs. This work will be managed at the regional and national levels and informed by the local teams.

Find out more about our Rural Generalist Program and Rural Faculty.

Stability and reform

The transition to college-led training is an opportunity to create a nationally consistent, efficient fit-for-purpose training program for the next generation of GPs. We are committed to providing stability during the transition period, particularly in the context of changing community needs and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The AGPT program will still have local and regional teams managing training but, the RACGP will absorb the roles of the current Regional Training Organisations. Our national team will provide specific services and resources.

This model will enable an individual case management approach to training while ensuring contextual relevance and national consistency. A national approach to resource management will provide significant efficiencies.

We are engaging with the Department of Health and RTOs to develop their specific transition plans and arrangements and to listen to their feedback about training processes.
 
Our collaboration with ACRRM will ensure an integrated and efficient approach to college-led training on areas such as:

  • strengthening general practice numbers
  • providing a streamlined approach for registrars, supervisors and practices which are dually accredited
  • providing stability across the system.

Cultural training

We are building and strengthening Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community engagement including meaningful engagement in education and training with:

  • local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
  • peak and jurisdictional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and other relevant organisations
  • regional engagement with Aboriginal Medical Services (AMSs) and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) to support the promotion of training and manage targeted recruitment into these facilities
  • a dedicated recruitment advisor to provide a single point of contact and ensure the recruitment of the right registrar to the placement.

The new model will also support training in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health by:

  • maintaining and strengthening cultural educator and cultural mentor positions
  • developing and increasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander medical educator positions
  • establishing adequate workforce distributions in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector.

GP supervisors

The role of GP supervisors is as critical as ever. GP registrars will continue to be trained predominantly in community-based settings (general practices), supplemented by periods of release to attend education activities delivered by medical educators.

The new model will provide a national alignment of professional development. It will deliver more targeted support to GP supervisors, particularly those located in areas that experience issues in recruiting and retaining GP registrars and specialist GPs.

We are working with RTOs and GP supervisors to ensure there is a smooth transition pathway and minimal disruption in education and training.

The transition will ultimately put supervisors in a better position to train the future GPs by delivering a nationally consistent, locally-led training program.

Find out about our remote supervision guidelines pilot

Regional training organisations (RTOs)

This is a positive change for GP education and training in Australia. The experience and expertise within RTOs will remain crucial in the new model.

We are committed to listening to RTOs and learning from their experience. RTOs will be invited to participate in a range of transition activities. We will actively support RTO staff to continue working in GP training and expect many of them to join the RACGP team and play an important role in delivering GP training in the future.

In the meantime, keep your registrars up to date with AGPT requirements for 2023.

Read the joint RACGP/ACRRM FAQ document.

Read now 

Accreditation

From February 2023, the RACGP will be accrediting training sites and supervisors. This will affect existing and prospective sites. We are working with ACRRM to align processes, streamline accreditation and reduce duplication.

We will honour the status and reaccreditation dates of all existing sites and GP supervisors. Those wishing to become accredited in 2023 will be able to submit an expression of interest from October 2022. 

More information about the eligibility criteria based on areas of workforce need will be available soon.