Innovative and practical training solutions, recognising patient population, infrastructure and service capability and capacity, are required to meet rural and remote community needs according to a major report of rural GPs conducted by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP).
The study – New approaches to integrated rural training for medical practitioners – undertaken by the RACGP’s National Rural Faculty (NRF), involved direct consultation with more than 2,400 GPs on key issues facing current training capacity constraints and the broader barriers to training in rural areas.
Chair of the RACGP’s NRF, Dr Kathy Kirkpatrick, said it is through the valued contribution of our members that we now have a strategy for Government to consider which will overcome past policy failures and provide the solutions required to secure the future rural general practice workforce.
“The resulting policy will provide a national rural training pathway, developed by the profession for the profession, allowing for stronger integration of training across the entire training continuum through the development of training hubs in rural communities spanning all medical disciplines,” said Dr Kirkpatrick.
A need for flexibility in the overall policy approach that reflects the vast differences between rural and remote communities was iterated across all study components.
RACGP President, Dr Liz Marles, said there is a necessity for training flexibility that supports the existing workforce meet the shifting skill requirements to address patient and community need.
“Flexibility and choice is also required for those at earlier learning stages, particularly those in prevocational and general practice training, to remove the restrictive conditions currently embedded in policy and impacting recruitment and retention,” said Dr Marles.
The need for training to have a flexible and broad structure to ensure GPs are able to tailor their practice to the community they serve is another key finding of the report.
“What sets general practice apart from other specialties is the broad skill set required to provide timely, appropriate patient care depending on the health needs and context of the community.
“The ability to acquire and maintain advanced skills at any stage of a GPs career is vital in ensuring a resilient multi-skilled general practice workforce that is able to handle the continual shifts in community needs and the challenges of rural general practice,” said Dr Kirkpatrick.
The research findings highlight ‘advanced skills’ necessary to address patient need extend well beyond procedural skills.
“There is a clear disconnect between the skills the profession values – including mental health, emergency medicine, chronic disease management and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health – against those currently prioritised in current workforce policy.
“These findings support the NRF’s long affirmed position that there is a need for broad generalist training experiences, balancing the workforce imperative with training.
“The findings of the research provides strong evidence of the requirement for focused support strategies to sustain a long term rural commitment from both current and future rural doctors,” said Dr Kirkpatrick.
The RACGP’s New approaches to integrated rural training for medical practitioners is available in a full or condensed version on the RACGP’s website.
The RACGP acknowledges the Department of Health (DoH) for the opportunity to consult with its members to shape the future of training coordination and a national rural training pathway.