Foundations of general practice standard

F5 – Registration and qualifications of practitioners

Standards for general practices (6th edition)
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      6. F5 – Registration and qualifications of practitioners

F5 | Registration and qualifications of practitioners

Consumer expectation statement: I expect the care I receive is always provided by, or supervised by, suitably qualified practitioners.

F5.A Members of the clinical team have, where applicable, current national registration and accreditation/certification with their relevant professional association.

The practice:

  • ensures that each practitioner has, where applicable, current national registration and accreditation/certification.

F5.B Every GP who provides general practice services in the practice is one or more of the following:

  • a specialist GP
  • a medical practitioner on a pathway to general practice Fellowship
  • a GP registrar under appropriate supervision from a qualified specialist GP
  • working under an approved workforce program.
If engagement of recognised specialist GPs or doctors on a pathway to Fellowship has been unsuccessful, the practice needs to ensure doctors who it engages have the qualifications and training necessary to meet the needs of patients.


Ensuring that practitioners who provide care at a practice are suitably qualified supports high standards of safe, quality care and professional competence.


Practitioners are responsible for maintaining current national registration and providing evidence of their credentialing. This includes meeting ongoing continuing professional development (CPD) requirements relevant to their scope of practice.


Doctors in general practices need to be appropriately trained and qualified in the discipline of general practice and meet at least one of the following requirements:

  • be vocationally recognised
  • have Fellowship of the RACGP (FRACGP) or ACRRM (FACRRM)
  • be otherwise recognised as a specialist GP by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra).


If specialist GPs and doctors on a pathway to Fellowship are not available (for example, in remote regions and towns), doctors who are not recognised specialist GPs need to be appropriately trained, supervised and supported through continual professional development to meet the needs of patients.

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