Welcome to the August edition of our Bush Alert newsletter.
Advocacy and education
In the past few months, we were focusing on advocacy and education. I had meetings with both state and Commonwealth governments, including the Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, to discuss health issues in rural and remote Australia and to continue lobbying for rural GPs.
We welcome the Rural Medical Workforce Plan consultation draft initiative by South Australian Minister for Health and Wellbeing, Stephen Wade, to establish a strategy to fix the major shortfall in its rural primary care workforce. We will continue to collaborate to ensure small country towns have adequately trained, skilled doctors to address the needs of their communities.
RACGP Rural has been active in contributing to the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) Review Taskforce reports and inquiries conducted by the Senate and the Productivity Commission into accessibility and quality of rural and remote mental health services.
Rural Generalist Fellowship Update
Development of the RACGP’s new Rural Generalist Fellowship is now underway. Work commenced on the formal application to have rural generalist medicine recognised as a specialised field within general practice.
We met with leaders of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) and the National Rural Health Commissioner at a Joint College Taskforce meeting in June to begin the application process. Recognition is a vital step forward for the National Rural Generalist pathway that is offered by both colleges and will support rural doctors with addressing current and future healthcare needs of rural and remote communities.
The RACGP Rural Education Committee met in July to discuss the next phase of the Fellowship, including a review of our Advanced Rural Training Skills (ARST) curriculums. We are also working with other medical colleges, including The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) and The Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA).
Fellowship and Awards Ceremonies
The state Fellowship ceremonies are fast approaching. I encourage all members to attend and congratulate the new Fellows on their achievement.
Rural highlights at GP19
GP19 will be held at the Adelaide Convention Centre from Thursday to Saturday 24–26 October 2019 and registration is now open.
The conference will deliver an array of program content highly relevant to rural general practice, including active learning modules (ALMs), clinical sessions, the national faculties evening and the 2019 RACGP Rural Member Meeting.
I invite you to attend an RACGP Rural an active learning module on the pre-conference ALM day, Wednesday 23 October:
Please note, the ALM workshops above will not be held at the Adelaide Convention Centre. Please visit the ALM workshop webpage of the GP19 website for venue information.
2019 RACGP Rural Member Meeting
I warmly invite all our members to attend the RACGP Rural Member Meeting with special guest National Rural Health Commissioner, Prof Paul Worley to be held on Friday 25 October from 4pm in Adelaide during GP19.
Come and meet your faculty Council and key stakeholders, and mingle with your colleagues. Registration is now open and I hope to see you there.
Assoc Prof Ayman Shenouda
RACGP Rural Chair