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Rural Procedural Grants Newsletter, March 2024

In this issue:

• RPGP Program update
• Team member profile
• WIP-Rural Advanced Skills applications are now open
• Face to Face and online courses for 2024

The latest news

RPGP Program update

The Department of Health’s decision to continue of the eligibility of online training under all RPGP categories has been supported by the RACGP continuing until 31 December 2024.

The reinstatement of overseas claims is coming.

The training criteria is being negotiated and the Rural Faculty submitted recommendations to the revised criteria and the department advised, the updated program guidelines and eligibly will be distributed to the Colleges in the next month. Please stay tuned.

RPGP Team Member profile

My name is John Sugden

Just a little about my time at the RACGP.

I have been with the RACGP for six years. I commenced in the Member Services centre where I spent three and half years on the front line taking Membership calls.

I then moved into the Administration Support Role for the Queensland Faculty, and am now in my current role in the Rural Facility in the Rural Procedural Grants Program as an Education Officer where we review assess and process your claims under the Procedural Grant Program.

Updated News – Workforce Incentive Program - Rural Advanced Skills Stream

Application are now open and forms for the WIP Rural Advanced Skills incentive Program are now available on the Department of Health and Aged Care’s website.

Doctors will need to complete separate forms when applying for:
Stream 1: Emergency Medicine and;
Stream 2: Advanced Skills Payments. Payments are backdated till 1 January 2023.

If you are working in a rural/remote community in First Nations Health and do not hold an RG recognised Fellowship, then you are still eligible to apply for Stream 2. There is a list of specific approved locations for "GP only" and RG candidates to apply for this payment in the documentation (note: you may be eligible for RG recognition through our RPLE process).

If you require any assistance completing the application form, please contact the Rural Workforce Agency in the state and territory in which you are providing most services. Contacts for each state can be found on here.

Upcoming courses

Face-to-face courses

Course name	Date/location	Grant approved
Emergency Medicine for Rural GPs workshop Register Now	13 July 2024 Lismore NSW	One day Emergency Medicine grant
Introduction to point-of-care ultrasound for GPs workshop	Multiple 2024 dates	One day – emergency Medicine grant
APLS Advanced Paediatric Life Support	Various dates available Australia wide 2024	Grant Approved
The Cutting Edge: Introductory Wound Suturing	10 May 2024 Western Australia	Grant Approved
The Cutting Edge: Emergency Procedures	23 & 24 May 2024 Western Australia	Grant Approved
The Cutting Edge: Managing Skin and Soft Tissue Injuries	14 June 2024 Western Australia	Grant Approved

Online courses

Course name	Date/location	Grant approved
Online Emergency medicine for rural GPs workshops	6 April, 1 June, 10 August, 12 October 2024	Component(s) One day Online Emergency grant

  

Rural Procedural Grants Newsletter, October 2023 

In this issue:

• Claiming Clinical attachments
• RPGP How to Guide to resubmit a claim
• Online portal FAQs
• Welcome to 23/24 Claims and Grant limits
• Types of claims

The latest news

Claim resubmission guide

There are times when we may require more information to be supplied to support your claim. This might include updated credentialling or employment documents, a program for the activity or other supporting documents. In this situation, you will be sent an email notification and your claim will be sent back to your ‘MY TASKS’ list, awaiting the requested information. Once this information has been collected, you can then resubmit your claim back to us for final processing. 

To resubmit, please log in to the grant’s portal, go to your ‘MY TASKS’ list and then find the relevant claim number. Open the claim, attach the certificate or other relevant documents, and then submit. Your form is saved as a draft, so you do not need to fill out the form again. 
If you need any assistance with claim submission or resubmission, please contact our team at rural.procedural.grants@racgp.org.au

Online claims

In the 2020-21 financial year the Department issued a temporary arrangement for Online Claims for the Rural Procedural Grants Program to provide additional flexibility and support to rural procedural GPs so that they can continue to access subsidised CPD activities.

We would like to remind all participants that these temporary arrangements are currently available until 31 December 2023. If we receive any information about the extension or change to these arrangements, we will communicate them to participants as soon as possible.

Limits are as follows

Component 1 – Procedural GPs Practising in Surgery, Anaesthetics and/or Obstetrics

CPD activities delivered online will be eligible between July 2020 and 31 December 2023 at $1,000 per day, for a maximum of 10 days

Component 2 – GPs Practising Emergency Medicine

CPD activities delivered online will be eligible between July 2020 and 31 December 2023 at $1,000 per day, for a maximum of 3 days

Emergency Mental Health Services

CPD activities delivered online will be eligible between July 2020 and 31 December 2023 at $1,000 per day, for a maximum of 3 days

RPGP Grant limits

Emergency

• $2,000 per day for up to 3 days of face-to-face training per financial year.
• $1,000 per day for up to 3 days of online training until 31 December 2023.
• A grant of $2,000 per day for an additional 3 days per financial year for emergency mental health training. Online training in emergency mental health will be eligible for a $1,000 per day for up to 3 days per financial year.

Online activities claimed count toward the total $6,000 cap each financial year. 

Procedural

Grant

• $2,000 per day for up to 10 days of face-to-face training per financial year.
• $1,000 per day for up to 10 days of online training until 31 December 2023.

Online activities claimed count toward the total $20,000 cap each financial year. 
Currently, online claiming arrangements are due to end 31 December 2023.

Online portal FAQs

Here is a compiled list of the most common questions we receive about the online portal.

Q: The form asks me for my account number. Is this my RACGP number?

A: No, your RPGP account number is not the same as your RACGP number. You were sent an email when you joined the program that contains your RPGP account number. The temporary answer to your security question might be your surname with the first letter capitalised, unless you enrolled in the program after we launched the online portal, in which case you would have set this up yourself.

Q: I registered to access the online portal a while ago and now I want to apply for a grant. Where do I find the log-in page?

A: Visit the RPGP website. Scroll down and click on the ‘Make a claim’ button, which will take you to the log in page. We recommend you bookmark this link in your internet browser or add it to your favourite pages so you can easily find it next time.

Q: How do I update my details?

A: Email your new details to us at rural.procedural.grants@racgp.org.au

Q: Can I put all my claims on the same form?

A: No, you need to complete one form for each claim linked to one component of the program.

Q: I’ve sent in several claims and one was rejected. How do I know which one it was?

A: The rejection notice will have a task number on it. You’ll be able to see your completed claims under ‘My tasks’ in the online portal and that will show you what has been approved.

Claiming for clinical attachments

When submitting a claim for your clinical attachment, please make sure that you’ve filled out the supervised clinical attachment form and have added the following in a separate word document:

Your clearly stated learning objectives, educational exposure and learning outcomes. 

Learning objective 

A general statement about what you want to learn throughout the attachment. 

Learning outcomes 

A specific statement describing exactly what measurable skills and abilities you have developed. 
As an alternative to the Supervised clinical attachment form, please attach a letter from the attachment supervisor(s) which includes content, dates and hours worked, along with your learning objectives and learning outcomes.
All claims are to be submitted through our RPGP grants portal.

Face-to-face courses

Course	Date/location	Grant approved
Ultrasound critical care workshop	28 - 29 October 2023 | Noosa, Queensland	Component(s): One day Emergency grant
Emergency airway and crisis skills management	20 October 2023 | Port Hedland	One day Emergency Medicine grant
Advanced training in suicide prevention	Multiple 2023 dates	One day – emergency mental health
Introduction to point-of-care ultrasound workshop for GPs	25 October 2023 | Sydney, New South Wales	One day Emergency grant
Emergency medicine for rural GPs	25 October 2023 | Melbourne, Victoria	One day Emergency grant
CT Acute Medical and Surgical Interpretation Essential	28 October 2023 | Noosa, Queensland	One day Emergency Medicine grant
Introduction to point-of-care ultrasound workshop for GPs	22 November 2023 | Coogee, New South Wales	One day of funding under the Emergency Medicine
NSW RDN - Rural GP’s Conference (pre-conference workshop)	23 - 26 November | Coogee, New South Wales	One day of funding under the Emergency Medicine
APLS Advanced paediatric Life Support	Multiple 2024 dates | Austalia-wide

Online courses

Course	Date/location	Grant approved
ABCDs of the critically Ill patient 2023	Online, self-paced, LearnEM	One day – emergency
Advanced Cardiac life Support	Online, self-paced, LearnEM	Two day – emergency medicine
Paediatric trauma	Online, self-paced, armchair	One day – emergency medicine
ABCDs of Acute Behavioural Emergencies	Online, self-paced	One day – emergency mental Health
Online Fetal Surveillance Education Program (OFSEP)	Online, self-paced	One day – emergency medicine
The Fundamentals of Safe Vacuum Delivery	Online, self-paced	One day – Obstetrics
Responding to the deteriorating patient	Online, self-paced	Two days – anaesthetics
Trauma radiology	Online, self-paced, Radiopaedia	Two days – emergency medicine

Rural Procedural Grants Newsletter, August 2023 

In this issue:

• New financial year update
• RPGP claim limits
• Event in spotlight
• Spreading the Word
• Find out more about claiming in FY2023-24
• Wonca 2023

The latest news

New financial year update

We’re off to the start of a new financial year and we’d like to remind you of the claim eligibility criteria for the Rural Procedural Grants Program (RPGP). Funding has now been reset for the new financial year and you can access that funding for eligible education completed from 1 July 2023. 

You can submit claims via Make a Claim for current and previous financial years only. Starting from 1 July 2023, we’re no longer accepting claims for the 2021–22 financial year. However, if the eligibility criteria was met at the time, you’ll still be able to submit claims for the 2022–23 financial year until mid-June 2024. 

Please ensure you include all relevant documents when claiming so that your claims can be reviewed and processed promptly.

Our dedicated team will be working diligently to expedite the processing of your claims, and we sincerely appreciate your patience.

Help spread the word about RPGP

Do you work with anyone who may be eligible for RPGP? Some rural GPs may not be aware of the program, even though they have been eligible for many years. If you believe that any of your colleagues meet the program’s eligibility criteria, we would greatly appreciate your help in spreading the word about this fantastic opportunity. With RPGP funding they can:

• Maintain and update current skill levels
• Ensure they have the skills to provide high-quality services to the community
• Partially subsidise the costs of attending approved activities.

Visit the RACGP website for more information.

You can also reach our team at rural.procedural.grants@racgp.org.au or 1800 636 764.

Grant limits

RPGP helps cover the cost of professional development for GPs who provide procedural and/or emergency medicine services in unsupervised settings in rural and remote areas. Here are the grant limits for the respective categories:
 
Emergency

• $2,000 per day for up to three days of face-to-face training per financial year.
• $1,000 per day for up to three days of online training until 31 December 2023.
• A grant of $2,000 per day for an additional three days per financial year for emergency mental health training. Online training in emergency mental health will be eligible for a $1,000 per day for up to three days per financial year.

Online activities claimed count toward the total $6,000 cap each financial year. 

Procedural

• $2,000 per day for up to 10 days of face-to-face training per financial year.
• $1,000 per day for up to 10 days of online training until 31 December 2023.

Online activities claimed count toward the total $20,000 cap each financial year. 
Currently, online claiming arrangements are due to end 31 December 2023.

Event in the spotlight

WONCA 2023
 

Date:	26–29 October 2023
Venue:	ICC Sydney
Cost:	Members Standard $1402. Non Members Standard $1720

Build your skills at the WONCA 2023 pre-conference workshops 
 
Need to build your skills in the use of ultrasound? Do you want to upgrade your skills in identifying skin legions?
 
These are just some of the topics being covered in WONCA 2023’s pre-conference workshops. These interactive and CPD-accredited workshops are aimed at building practical skills for GPs. 
 
Explore the program and register now by visiting www.wonca2023.com.au 

Please note: A Rural Procedural Grant may be available for attendance of a number of sessions of the WONCA program with more information to come

Register now

Claiming in the 2023–24 financial year

Locum participants

The current locum policy states that we cannot approve a locum’s grant claim until after they have completed your 28 days of locum work for the financial year. If you’re a locum, you’ll be entitled to the grant as long as you’re registered for the program. You’ll need to provide evidence of having completed the 28 days before your claim can be approved. 

To maintain eligibility as a locum participant in 2023–24, please send the following documents to rural.procedural.grants@racgp.org.au

• A credentialing letter stating your unsupervised clinical privileges and scope of practice also the duration of this credentialing from one of the hospitals you attend. This isn’t required if your credentials on file are still current.

• A letter of employment stating the dates and locations of your placements and the services you’ve provided for the 2023–24 financial year. The services you provided must also indicate if you were on an on-call roster. 

Claiming for clinical attachments

When submitting a claim for your clinical attachment, please make sure that you’ve filled out the supervised clinical attachment form. 

You also need to provide a summary of the learning objectives and outcomes Clearly state your learning objectives, educational exposure and learning outcomes in a separate word document.  

Please see the following as a guide: 

Learning objective 
A general statement about what you want to learn throughout the attachment. 

Learning outcomes 
A specific statement describing exactly what measurable skills and abilities you’ve developed.  

As an alternative to the supervised clinical attachment form, please attach a letter from the attachment supervisor which includes dates and hours worked. 

Submit your claims through our RPGP grants portal.

Face-to-face courses

Course	Date/location	Grant approved
Introduction to point-of-care ultrasound workshop for GPs	25 August 2023 | Adelaide, South Australia	One day all RPGP categories grant
Emergency trauma management course	Multiple 2023 dates in VIC, NSW, QLD, SA, WA	Three days – emergency medicine, anaesthetics, surgery
Advanced training in suicide prevention	Multiple 2023 dates	One day – emergency mental health
Obstetric emergencies	18 August 2023 | Esperance, Western Australia	One day obstetrics grant
Introduction to point-of-care ultrasound workshop for GPs	23 September 2023 | Townsville, Queensland	One day all RPGP categories.
Zedu Introductory for emergency medicine	4 – 7 September 2023 | Melbourne, Victoria	Four-day grant in Emergency
Zedu Core obstetric ultrasound	14 – 15 September 2023 | Melbourne, Victoria	Two-day grant in Obstetrics
Zedu Emergency ultrasound for rural and remote medicine	25–27 September 2023 | Melbourne, Victoria	Three day grant in Emergency, Obstetrics
Introduction to point-of-care ultrasound workshop for GPs	22 November 2023 | Coogee, NSW	One day Emergency Medicine

Online courses

Course	Date/location	Grant approved
Emergency mental health: Assessing suicide risk, AOD the acute response, safely dealing with ‘difficult’ behaviour	Online, self-paced	One day – emergency mental health
RESP: High-risk emergencies	Online, self-paced	One day – emergency medicine
Emergency mental health	Online, self-paced	One day – emergency mental health
Online foetal surveillance education program	Online, self-paced	One day – obstetrics
Professional certificate of skin cancer surgery principle	Online, self-paced	Nine days – surgery
Paediatric trauma	Online, self-paced	One day – emergency medicine
Responding to the deteriorating patient	Online, self-paced	Two days – emergency medicine, anaesthetics
GP clinical enhancement module: Youth mental health	Online, self-paced	One day – emergency mental health
Online emergency medicine for rural GPs workshop	Saturday 7 October 2023	One day of funding under the Emergency Medicine.

Rural Procedural Grants Newsletter, July 2023 

In this issue:

• New financial year update
• RPGP claim limits
• Event in spotlight
• Spreading the Word
• Find out more about claiming in FY2023-24
• Wonca 2023

The latest news

New financial year update

We’re off to the start of a new financial year and we’d like to remind you of the claim eligibility criteria for the Rural Procedural Grants Program (RPGP). Funding has now been reset for the new financial year and you can access that funding for eligible education completed from 1 July 2023. 

You can submit claims via Make a Claim for current and previous financial years only. Starting from 1 July 2023, we’re no longer accepting claims for the 2021–22 financial year. However, if the eligibility criteria was met at the time, you’ll still be able to submit claims for the 2022–23 financial year until mid-June 2024. 

Please ensure you include all relevant documents when claiming so that your claims can be reviewed and processed promptly.

Our dedicated team will be working diligently to expedite the processing of your claims, and we sincerely appreciate your patience.

Grant limits

RPGP helps cover the cost of professional development for GPs who provide procedural and/or emergency medicine services in unsupervised settings in rural and remote areas. Here are the grant limits for the respective categories:
 
Emergency

• $2,000 per day for up to three days of face-to-face training per financial year.
• $1,000 per day for up to three days of online training until 31 December 2023.
• A grant of $2,000 per day for an additional three days per financial year for emergency mental health training. Online training in emergency mental health will be eligible for a $1,000 per day for up to three days per financial year.

Online activities claimed count toward the total $6,000 cap each financial year. 

Procedural

• $2,000 per day for up to 10 days of face-to-face training per financial year.
• $1,000 per day for up to 10 days of online training until 31 December 2023.

Online activities claimed count toward the total $20,000 cap each financial year. 
Currently, online claiming arrangements are due to end 31 December 2023.

Event in the spotlight

WONCA 2023
 

Date:	26–29 October 2023
Venue:	ICC Sydney
Cost:	Members Standard $1402. Non Members Standard $1720

Build your skills at the WONCA 2023 pre-conference workshops 
 
Need to build your skills in the use of ultrasound? Do you want to upgrade your skills in identifying skin legions?
 
These are just some of the topics being covered in WONCA 2023’s pre-conference workshops. These interactive and CPD-accredited workshops are aimed at building practical skills for GPs. 
 
Explore the program and register now by visiting www.wonca2023.com.au 

Please note: A Rural Procedural Grant may be available for attendance of a number of sessions of the WONCA program with more information to come

Register now

Claiming in the 2023–24 financial year

Locum participants

The current locum policy states that we cannot approve a locum’s grant claim until after they have completed your 28 days of locum work for the financial year. If you’re a locum, you’ll be entitled to the grant as long as you’re registered for the program. You’ll need to provide evidence of having completed the 28 days before your claim can be approved. 

To maintain eligibility as a locum participant in 2023–24, please send the following documents to rural.procedural.grants@racgp.org.au

• A credentialing letter stating your unsupervised clinical privileges and scope of practice also the duration of this credentialing from one of the hospitals you attend. This isn’t required if your credentials on file are still current.

• A letter of employment stating the dates and locations of your placements and the services you’ve provided for the 2023–24 financial year. The services you provided must also indicate if you were on an on-call roster. 

Claiming for clinical attachments

When submitting a claim for your clinical attachment, please make sure that you’ve filled out the supervised clinical attachment form. 

You also need to provide a summary of the learning objectives and outcomes Clearly state your learning objectives, educational exposure and learning outcomes in a separate word document.  

Please see the following as a guide: 

Learning objective 
A general statement about what you want to learn throughout the attachment. 

Learning outcomes 
A specific statement describing exactly what measurable skills and abilities you’ve developed.  

As an alternative to the supervised clinical attachment form, please attach a letter from the attachment supervisor which includes dates and hours worked. 

Submit your claims through our RPGP grants portal.

Face-to-face courses

Course	Date/location	Grant approved
Introduction to point-of-care ultrasound workshop for GPs	25 August 2023 | Adelaide, South Australia	One day all RPGP categories grant
Emergency trauma management course	Multiple 2023 dates in VIC, NSW, QLD, SA, WA	Three days – emergency medicine, anaesthetics, surgery
Advanced training in suicide prevention	Multiple 2023 dates	One day – emergency mental health
Obstetric emergencies	18 August 2023 | Esperance, Western Australia	One day obstetrics grant
Introduction to point-of-care ultrasound workshop for GPs	23 September 2023 | Townsville, Queensland	One day all RPGP categories.
Zedu Introductory for emergency medicine	4 – 7 September 2023 | Melbourne, Victoria	Four-day grant in Emergency
Zedu Core obstetric ultrasound	14 – 15 September 2023 | Melbourne, Victoria	Two-day grant in Obstetrics
Zedu Emergency ultrasound for rural and remote medicine	25–27 September 2023 | Melbourne, Victoria	Three day grant in Emergency, Obstetrics
Introduction to point-of-care ultrasound workshop for GPs	22 November 2023 | Coogee, NSW	One day Emergency Medicine

Online courses

Course	Date/location	Grant approved
Emergency mental health: Assessing suicide risk, AOD the acute response, safely dealing with ‘difficult’ behaviour	Online, self-paced	One day – emergency mental health
RESP: High-risk emergencies	Online, self-paced	One day – emergency medicine
Emergency mental health	Online, self-paced	One day – emergency mental health
Online foetal surveillance education program	Online, self-paced	One day – obstetrics
Professional certificate of skin cancer surgery principle	Online, self-paced	Nine days – surgery
Paediatric trauma	Online, self-paced	One day – emergency medicine
Responding to the deteriorating patient	Online, self-paced	Two days – emergency medicine, anaesthetics
GP clinical enhancement module: Youth mental health	Online, self-paced	One day – emergency mental health
Online emergency medicine for rural GPs workshop	Saturday 7 October 2023	One day of funding under the Emergency Medicine.

Rural Procedural Grants Newsletter, June 2023

In this issue:

• End of financial year approaching
• RACGP Rural Award nominations
• Event in spotlight
• Spreading the word

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The latest news

End of financial year approaching

As we approach the end of the 2022–23 financial year, we’d like to remind you of the claims rules for the Rural Procedural Grants Program (RPGP).
 
You’re eligible to make claims for the current financial year as well as the previous financial year, but any claims beyond that will not be accepted. Starting from 1 July 2023, we’ll no longer accept claims for the 2021–22 financial year. However, you’ll still be able to submit claims for the 2022–23 financial year until 30 June 2024.
 
Please ensure that you enter your claims for the 2021–22 financial year online before Friday 15 June 2023. Kindly keep in mind that this is our busiest time of the year, and it may take some time for us to review and process your claim. Our dedicated team will be working diligently to expedite the claims process, and we sincerely appreciate your patience.

 

Help spread the word about RPGP

Do you work with anyone who might be eligible for the Rural Procedural Grants Program?
Some rural GPs are not aware of the program, although they might have been eligible for many years. If any of your colleagues satisfy the program’s eligibility criteria – we kindly request your assistance in spreading awareness! With RPGP funding they can:

• maintain and update current skill levels
• ensure they have the skills to provide high-quality services to the community.
• partially subsidise the costs of attending approved activities. 

Visit the website  for more information. 
You can also reach our team at rural.procedural.grants@racgp.org.au or 1800 636 764.
 

RACGP Rural Awards now open  

Do you know an extraordinary GP, GP in training or medical student going above and beyond? Nominate them for an RACGP Rural Award today!
 
GPs receive all kinds of acknowledgements from their patients, but it’s important to formally celebrate this work and dedication to holistic patient care.
 
The RACGP Rural Awards recognise outstanding achievements and exceptional individuals for their contribution to rural general practice. This year, we’re seeking nominations for the: 
 

• Brian Williams Award 
• Rural Registrar of the Year 
• Medical Student Bursary 
• Rural Community Research Project of the Year. 

 
The RACGP Rural Awards focus on exceptional individuals in Australian rural general practice for their outstanding achievements and contribution to the health of their community.
 
This year we have a new award – Rural Community Research Project of the Year. This award is presented to an RACGP member that has completed an innovative research project over the last financial year which has directly contributed to healthcare improvement in a rural or remote general practice, and positively impacted the town’s community. For the first time, RACGP members can self-nominate for this award and the eligibility criteria has expanded to include rural research projects – it only focused on community projects completed as part of rural GP training in the past. 
 
Visit the RACGP website to nominate now

Event in spotlight 

Emergency medicine for rural GPs – Hepburn Springs

Register now
 
Date: Saturday 22 July 2023
Time: 8:30 am – 4:00 pm
Venue: Hotel Bellinzona, 77 Main Road, Hepburn Springs, VIC 3461
Cost: RACGP members $995, Non-members: $1,295
 
The workshop 
This face-to-face workshop involves six small-group skills stations and interactive case scenario discussions and is capped at 36 participants. The workshop will also explore critical considerations involved in managing rural emergency cases, packaging patients for retrieval, communicating effectively with retrieval teams, debriefing and self-care. All the scenarios included in the workshop are written by experienced rural GPs from actual cases.
 
This workshop is a CPD-accredited activity (GPs can earn 1.5 EA and 6.6 RP CPD hours) and is approved for a one-day emergency medicine grant through the Rural Procedural Grants Program. 
 
Why attend? 
Designed and facilitated by experienced rural GPs and emergency specialists, the emergency medicine for rural GPs workshop aims to enhance rural emergency medicine skills using case scenarios that reflect the challenges faced when living and working in rural and remote communities.
 

RPGP: Did you know?

Claiming for online activities extended to 31 December 2023

The Department of Health has extended RPGP temporary online claiming arrangements to support GPs to claim online education until 31 December 2023. 

Find out more
 

Upcoming courses

Upcoming Courses - Face-to-face 

Course name	Date/location	Grant approved
Introduction to point-of-care ultrasound	5 August 2023 | Burnie, Tasmania	One day – emergency medicine, anaesthetics, obstetrics, surgery
Emergency medicine for rural GPs – Hepburn Springs	Saturday 22 July 2023 | Hepburn Springs, Victoria	This workshop is approved for all categories of the Rural Procedural Grants Program.
Emergency trauma management course	Multiple 2023 dates in VIC, NSW, QLD, SA, WA	Three days – emergency medicine, anaesthetics, surgery
Advanced training in suicide prevention	Multiple 2023 dates	One day – emergency mental health
REACT+	5–6 August 2023 | Karratha, Western Australia	Component(s): Two days anaesthetic grant, two days emergency grant
Obstetric emergencies	18 August 2023 | Esperance Hospital, Western Australia	Component(s): One day obstetrics grant
Emergency ultrasound for rural and remote medicine	19–21 June 2023 Melbourne, Victoria	Three days – emergency medicine, anaesthetics, obstetrics, surgery
Critical procedures course	Multiple 2023 course dates	One day – emergency medicine, anaesthetics
Ultrasound in rural medicine course – 5-day	12–16 June 2023 | Broadbeach Waters, Queensland	Five Days – anaesthetics, obstetrics, surgery Three days – emergency medicine
Introduction to point-of-care ultrasound	25 August 2023 | Adelaide, South Australia	One day of funding under the emergency medicine
Advanced training in suicide prevention	3 June 2023 | Randwick, New South Wales	One day of funding under the emergency medicine.
Advanced training in suicide prevention	8 June 2023 | Cairns, Queensland	One day of funding under the emergency medicine.
Advanced training in suicide prevention	22 June 2023 | Dandenong, Victoria	One day of funding under the emergency medicine.

 

Online courses

Emergency mental health: Assessing suicide risk, AOD the acute response, safely dealing with ‘difficult’ behaviour.	Online, self-paced	One day – emergency mental health
RESP: High-risk emergencies	Online, self-paced	One day – emergency medicine
Emergency mental health	Online, self-paced	One day – emergency mental health
Online foetal surveillance education program	Online, self-paced	One day – obstetrics
Professional certificate of skin cancer surgery principle	Online, self-paced	Nine days – surgery
Paediatric trauma	Online, self-paced	One day – emergency medicine
Responding to the deteriorating patient	Online, self-paced	Two days – emergency medicine anaesthetics
GP clinical enhancement module: Youth mental health	Online, self-paced	One day – emergency mental health

Rural Procedural Grants Newsletter, February 2023

In this issue:

• Happy New Year and welcome back
• Extension of RPGP online claiming flexibility
• Payment rates
• RPGP: Did you know?
• Upcoming courses

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The latest news

Happy New Year and welcome back

We hope you all had a lovely festive season and are ready to dive in to 2023. We look forward to supporting you in the Rural Procedural Grants Program (RPGP) this year.

As always, please contact the team at rural.procedural.grants@racgp.org.au with any queries about eligibility.

 

Extension of RPGP online claiming flexibility

The RACGP has been working closely with the Federal Government to implement revised eligibility arrangements for the RPGP to support you during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

We notified participants in early December 2022 of the Department of Health decision to extend online training for the RPGP until 31 December 2023. This means you can continue claiming costs for a limited number of online procedural or emergency medicine CPD activities at a rate of $1000 per day (capped at 10 days for procedural GPs and three days each for emergency medicine/emergency mental health per financial year).

However, keep in mind that any training you choose must align with the component of the program in which you’re enrolled; for example, if you’re enrolled in obstetrics, you can’t claim for training focused only on emergency medicine.

Online course completion hours	Number of claimable days
Less than four hours	None
More than four hours but less than 8 hours	One (e.g $1,000)
More than eight hours but less than 12 hours	Two
More than 12 hours but less than 16 hours	Three (cap for emergency medicine)
More than 16 hours but less than 20 hours	Four

 

Payment rates

All face-to-face grant payments are calculated at a flat rate of $2000 per day, regardless of:

• the cost of the course
• travel and accommodation costs
• charges relating to a locum.

The procedural GP component gives you a grant for up to 10 days of CPD for procedural skills, to a total of $20,000 per financial year. You’re eligible to access the payment multiple times per financial year up to this maximum.

The emergency medicine GP component gives you a grant of $2000 per day for three days of CPD in emergency medicine to a total of $6000 per financial year.

Additionally, the emergency mental health GP component gives you a grant of $2000 per day for an additional three days of CPD in mental health to a total of $6000 per financial year.

Depending on your eligibility, you may be able to receive up to $32,000 per financial year under the RPGP. As we explain above, a partial grant payment of $1000 a day is available while online flexibility is in place (currently until 31 December 2023).

 

RPGP: Did you know?

Currently, GPs that hold Fellowship of a non-GP specialist college, such as FACEM or FANZCA, are excluded from the RPGP.
 

Upcoming courses

Upcoming Courses - Face-to-face

Course Name	Date/location	Grant approved
Introduction to point-of-care ultrasound	Tamworth NSW, 25 February 2023 І Toowoomba QLD, 18 March 2023	One day – emergency medicine, anaesthetics, obstetrics, surgery
Emergency trauma management course	Multiple 2023 dates in VIC, NSW, QLD, SA	Three days – emergency medicine, anaesthetics, surgery
FPAA certificate in reproductive and sexual health (WA) – Theory	Northbridge WA, 20–24 March 2023	Five days – obstetrics
Advanced training in suicide prevention	Multiple 2023 Course dates	One day – emergency mental health
Airway course for critical care and emergency	Sunshine Coast QLD, 29 April 2023	One day – anaesthetics
Emergency ultrasound for rural and remote medicine	Melbourne VIC, 6–8 March 2023	Three days – emergency medicine, anaesthetics, obstetrics, surgery
Core obstetric ultrasound	Melbourne VIC, 16–17 February; 9–10 March; 20–21 March; 19–20 April 2023	Two days – obstetrics
Comprehensive obstetrics ultrasound	Melbourne VIC, 21–24 February 2023	Four days – anaesthetics, obstetrics, surgery Three days – emergency medicine
The cutting edge: Introductory GP wound suturing	Crawley WA, 28 April 2023	One day – surgery
Prehospital trauma care for rural clinicians	Hahndorf SA, 28–30 April 2023	One day – emergency medicine

Upcoming Courses - Online

Location	Date/location	Grant approved
RESP: High-risk emergencies	Online; self-paced	One day – emergency medicine
Emergency mental health: Assessing suicide risk, AOD the acute response, safely dealing with ‘difficult’ behaviour	Online; self-paced	One day - Emergency mental health
Online foetal surveillance education program	Online; self-paced	One day - obstetrics
Professional certificate of skin cancer surgery principle	Online; self-paced	Nine days - surgery
Paediatric trauma	Online; self-paced	One day - emergency medicine
Responding to the deteriorating patient	Online; self-paced	Two days - emergency medicine, anaesthetics
GP clinical enhancement module: Youth mental health	Online; self-paced	One day - emergency mental health

Rural Procedural Grants Newsletter, November 2022

In this issue:

• End-of-year claims
• RACGP end-of-year closure
• Emergency mental health training
• Caring for yourself in challenging times
• RPGP: Did you know?
• Upcoming courses

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The latest news

End-of-year claims

With the end of the year fast approaching, to avoid disappointment we encourage you to submit any claims to rural.procedural.grants@racgp.org.au before Friday 16 December 2022. Any claims sent in after that date won’t be processed until after 3 January 2023. 

Depending on the volume of last-minute claims, we can’t guarantee your claim submission will meet the last 2022 payment run however our team will work as quickly as possible. Please ensure all your information is complete for a seamless process. You can continue to submit your claims after the cut-off date, but we’ll only be able to release payments from mid-January 2023. 
 

RACGP end-of-year closure

The RACGP offices will be closed over the holiday period from COB Thursday 22 December 2022. Offices will re-open on Tuesday 3 January 2023. 

When we re-open next year, we’ll likely have a backlog of enquiries, applications and claims, so we ask for your patience as we aim to respond to all enquiries as soon as possible. 
 

Emergency mental health training

If you’re enrolled in the emergency component of the RPGP, you may be aware that as of 1 July 2020, GPs who are registered in the Emergency Medicine component of the Rural Procedural Grants Program may be eligible to claim an additional 3 days of emergency mental health CPD per financial year.  To enrol, please submit a letter to the team from the hospital stating you’re responsible for providing care for emergency mental health services or crisis intervention in patients with acute mental health issues. 

Emergency mental health is the urgent assessment, investigation and/or management of an acute mental health problem, including acute psychosis; severe depression; threatened or attempted self-harm or harm of others; or when a patient is brought to hospital under an involuntary detention order for urgent mental health assessment. 

Emergency Mental Health courses are in demand, so if you’ve found any relevant existing courses in this area, please email us at rural.procedural.grants@racgp.org.au and we’ll share them with RPGP participants.  You may also consider a supervised clinical attachments at an acute mental health unit for a hands-on experience. 
 

Caring for yourself in challenging times

We acknowledge it has been an incredibly challenging few years and would like to thank our participants for everything you do for your communities, patients and colleagues out there on the frontlines. 

Should you need help, don’t hesitate to contact the RACGP GP Support Program. This is a free and confidential psychological support service available to all members, delivered by LifeWorks. Access the service by calling 1300 361 008 (24 hours, seven days). 
 

RPGP: Did you know?

From January 2021, training held outside Australia is not eligible for grants. 
 

Upcoming courses

Upcoming Courses - Face-to-face

Course Name	Date/location	Grant approved
Emergency trauma management course	Multiple dates	Three days - Emergency medicine, Anaesthetics
Focused cardiac ultrasound workshop	Perth 19-20 November 2022; Perth 7-8 January 2023; Melbourne 4-5 February 2023; Hobart 18-19 March 2023	Two days - Emergency medicine, Anaesthetics

Upcoming Courses - Online

Course Name	Date/location	Grant approved
RESP: High-risk emergencies	Online; self-paced	One day - Emergency medicine
Emergency mental health	Online; self-paced	One day - Emergency mental health
Online foetal surveillance education program	Online; self-paced	One day - Obstetrics
Professional certificate of skin cancer surgery principle	Online; self-paced	Nine days - Surgery
Paediatric trauma	Online; self-paced	One day - Emergency medicine
Responding to the deteriorating patient	Online; self-paced	Two days - Emergency medicine, Anaesthetics
GP clinical enhancement module: Youth mental health	Online; self-paced	One day - Emergency mental health
Choosing an antidepressant: the value of a shared decision-making approach	Online; self-paced	One day - Emergency mental health
Emergency mental health: Assessing suicide risk, AOD the acute response, safely dealing with ‘difficult’ behaviour	Online; self-paced	One day - Emergency mental health

 

Rural Procedural Grants Newsletter, June 2022

In this issue:

• Online education claims extended
• End of financial year claims
• Update your details
• RPGP: Did you know?
• Upcoming courses

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The latest news

Online education claims extended

We’re pleased to advise that you can continue to claim grants for online education until 31 December 2022. The date has been extended by the Department of Health in collaboration with the GP colleges to make professional development more accessible for rural and remote GPs during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

This means you can claim both face-to-face and online courses until the end of the year. Rural procedural GPs can receive up to $20,000 per financial year, and GPs providing hospital-based emergency services can receive up to $6,000 per financial year in training grants.  

Additional funding of $6,000 per financial year is available for eligible GPs providing emergency mental health services. 

It’s a great opportunity to access financial assistance to maintain or update your procedural and emergency medicine skills by the end of the triennium so that you can continue to provide vital service to your rural or remote community.  

Visit the RACGP website for more information.  

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End of financial year claims

As the end of the financial year fast approaches we are faced with a surplus of adjudications and claims. We appreciate your patience as we work through these and we will get to yours as quickly as we can.  

Any outstanding claims for the 2020-21 financial year must be submitted by mid-June 2022. You can only claim for the current and previous financial year and nothing beyond that. This means that from 1 July 2022 we can no longer process claims from the 2020-21 financial year.  

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Update your details

We are currently reviewing the RPGP credentials we have on file to ensure that they are up-to-date. Please let us know if your circumstances have changed so that we can update them in your account and you can continue to submit your claims.  

Remember that we’re here to support you through the claims process and assist with any queries. You can email the team or give us a call on 1800 636 764.

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RPGP: Did you know?

Grant payments

Grant payments are not subject to GST or PAYG documentation. However, recipients are encouraged to seek advice from their accountants on the taxation status of this funding.

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Upcoming courses

Although these events are currently scheduled to go ahead (with strict COVID-19 hygiene principles in place), refer to up-to-date government guidelines prior to attending. Delivery format and dates may be subject to change. Your health and wellbeing always come first.

If you would like more information about other grant eligible training courses, email the RPGP team.

Events calendar

This program is funded by the Commonweath Department of Health.

Rural Procedural Grants Newsletter, May 2022

In this issue:

• Rural Procedural Grants Program staff changes
• End of financial year
• RPGP: Did you know?
• Event in the spotlight
• Upcoming courses

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The latest news

Rural Procedural Grants Program staff changes

Over the last month, we’ve welcomed a new addition to the RPGP team: Amy Freeman returned from parental leave mid-April to join Kate in the role of Rural Education Officer. Amy has worked with Simone, Leeanne and Cheryl over the years and previously held the Rural Administrator role within RACGP Rural. Please join us in warmly welcoming Amy into the program as she strives to navigate the system and works to answer your queries.

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End of financial year

As the end of the financial year fast approaches, we’re faced with a huge number of adjudications and claims. We’d appreciate your patience as we work through them!

Any outstanding claims for the 2020–21 financial year must be submitted by mid-June 2022. You can only claim for the current and previous financial year and nothing beyond that. This means that from 1 July 2022 we can no longer process claims from the 2020–21 financial year.

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RPGP: Did you know?

RPGP grant allocations operate by financial year, and your grant allocations start on 1 July each year. Claims are paid according to the date of training and will be deducted from the grant allocation for the financial year in which the training takes place. Grant allocations don’t roll over to the next financial year if they aren’t used.

You can claim for the current financial year and the previous financial year, but nothing prior to that. Claims for the preceding financial year must be approved ahead of a cut-off date two weeks prior to the end of the financial year. You can submit current financial claims at any time.

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Event in the spotlight

Emergency medicine for rural GPs: Bathurst
Date: Saturday 21 May 2022
Time: 7.30am - 4.30pm
Venue: Bathurst Hospital
Cost: RACGP member $695, Non-member $995
 

RACGP Rural is partnering with the NSW Government’s Health Education and Training Institute (HETI) for a full-day workshop held in HETI’s state-of-the-art mobile simulated clinical training facility and in Bathurst Hospital.

This accredited activity will enhance your rural emergency medicine skills as you rotate through seven hands-on simulated scenarios that reflect real rural and remote challenges. The workshop will focus on common rural emergency medicine situations and coordination and communication with other healthcare professionals. You’ll also develop strategies for self-care, stress management and debriefing. All the scenarios are written by experienced rural GPs from actual cases.
 

Register here

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Upcoming courses

Although these events are currently scheduled to go ahead (with strict COVID-19 hygiene principles in place), refer to up-to-date government guidelines prior to attending. Delivery format and dates may be subject to change. Your health and wellbeing always come first.

Events calendar

This program is funded by the Commonweath Department of Health. If you’d like more information about other grant eligible training courses, email the RPGP team.

Rural Procedural Grants Newsletter, February 2022

In this issue:

• COVID-19 support: online training
• Pre-approved training database
• Emergency Mental Health
• Existing funding and eligibility
• Face-to-face courses
• Online courses

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Happy New Year Welcome back everyone.
We hope you all had a lovely festive season and are ready to tackle whatever challenges are thrown your way in 2022. We look forward to supporting you in the Rural Procedural Grants Program (RPGP).

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The latest news

COVID-19 support: online training

COVID-19 online training support has been extended for a further six months, to 30 June 2022. You can continue claiming costs for a limited number of online procedural or emergency medicine continuing professional development (CPD) activities, at a rate of $1000 per day.

This is capped at 10 days for procedural GPs and three days each for emergency medicine and emergency mental health.

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Pre-approved training database

Over the next six months the RPGP team will be developing a database of pre-approved training programs that are eligible (under the Department of Health guidelines) for a RPGP grant. Once these programs have been approved the team will upload them onto the RPGP website for your information. In the meantime, if you would like to know whether a program is grant eligible please email the RPGP team.

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Emergency Mental Health

Access to the Emergency Mental Health component of the Rural Procedural Grants Program is still available. You need to already be enrolled in Emergency Medicine if you want to claim for Emergency Mental Health. To be eligible, we need a supporting letter from your hospital stating that you are responsible for providing care in respect of emergency mental health services/crisis intervention in patients presenting with acute mental health issues.

Please remember, training must be in relation to the ‘emergency’ aspect of mental health – not mental health plans that you would normally conduct in a general practice.

Contact the RPGP team if you would like us to email you a list of pre-approved Emergency Mental Health training courses.

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Existing funding and eligibility

If you’ve already received funding from the federal, state or territory government for a training program, it will not be eligible for a Rural Procedural Grant.

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Upcoming courses

Although these events are currently scheduled to go ahead (with strict COVID-19 hygiene principles in place), refer to up-to-date government guidelines prior to attending. Delivery format and dates may be subject to change. Your health and wellbeing always come first.

Face-to-face courses

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Online courses

This program is funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health.

Rural Procedural Grants Newsletter, December 2021

In this issue:

• Season's Greetings
• RPGP staff changes
• End of year program closure
• End of year claims
• Supervised clinical attachment program claims
• Check your bank details
• RPGP: Did you know?
• Face-to-face courses

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The latest news

Season's Greetings

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a safe and healthy New Year. It has been a challenging year and we’d like to thank you for all of your hard work for our rural and remote communities.

Please stay safe over the festive season. We acknowledge those who will be working over the Christmas break and hope that your rural or remote community remains unharmed and healthy over this period.

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RPGP staff changes

Over the past month we’ve had a few changes in the RPGP team. Both Simone Low and Leeanne Shaw, our RPGP Administrators, are moving on and leaving the College.

Our long standing RPGP Administrator Leeanne Shaw is moving to Rural Health West to continue to support rural and remote GPs. Leeanne has provided RPGP support to our rural GPs over many years and we thank her for her dedicated work in the program. We wish Leeanne all the best.

We would like to welcome Kate Dart to the team. Kate has been working with the RPGP team over the past month so they could impart their RPGP wisdom on her! Please warmly welcome Kate into the program and understand that grant claim processing may take a little longer as she navigates the program and claims system.

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End of year program closure

The RACGP will be closed over the Christmas and New Year break from 12 noon on Thursday 23 December 2021 and re-open on Tuesday 4 January 2022.

When we re-open, we expect to have a backlog of enquiries, applications and claims. We ask for your patience as we aim to respond to all emails as soon as possible.

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End of year claims

Any claim submitted after 13 December may not be attended to until after January 4 2022.

Depending on volume of last-minute claims, we cannot guarantee your claim submission will meet the 16 December payment run. Please ensure all your information is complete for a seamless process.

You may still continue to submit your claims in December; however, we will only release payments from mid-January 2022.

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Supervised clinical attachment program claims

Remember to attach your learning objectives and educational outcomes.(in a separate word document) when submitting a supervised clinical attachment claim.

Learning objective

A general statement about what you want to learn throughout the attachment.

Learning/educational outcomes

A specific statement describing exactly what measurable skills and abilities you have developed.

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Check your bank details

As we move into a new year, it’s a great time to check your bank details to ensure that they are correct and up-to-date so your grant funds can be paid without any delays.

To ensure that payment is made to the correct account, you can attach a copy of your bank statement to confirm the details.

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RPGP: Did you know?

Log in tip

When entering your account number and security question answer when you log into the program’s claim site the main page asks GPs to select the “Tab” button. What we really need you to do is after you enter in your number and security question answer is hit the tab button on your keyboard!

Additional information

We have a new RPGP – Additional Information Form tab on the front page of the claims portal. This tab, located on the right-hand side of the main page, allows members to upload credentialling information and other requested documents.

Online claims

Please remember claims for online training cease on 31 December 2021 unless we receive further information from the Department of Health. Should any information or dates change we will list these updates on our RPGP website Members will be able to claim for online training completed before 31 December 2021 until 30 June 2022 beyond that date you will not be entitled to claim.

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Upcoming courses

Although these events are currently scheduled to go ahead (with strict COVID-19 hygiene principles in place), refer to up-to-date government guidelines prior to attending. Delivery format and dates may be subject to change. Your health and wellbeing always come first.

Face-to-face courses

This program is funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health.

Rural Procedural Grants Newsletter, October 2021

In this issue:

• An Antarctic Adventure
• What should your RPGP grant be used for?
• Clinical attachments
• Online learning grants
• This Rural Life
• Rural health webinar
• Frequently asked questions

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The latest news

An Antarctic adventure

_{Dr Bosco Lee and his colleagues training in expedition and wilderness medicine}

One of our Rural Procedural Grants Program GPs, Dr Bosco Li, came to Australia from the UK in 2012 and has since been working as a locum all around the country, providing anaesthetics and emergency medicine.

This has seen Dr Li work in some very remote areas across Australia. To add to his medical and travel experience, he’s decided to head off to Antarctica to live and spend a season working on a station with scientists and support staff (you can find further information on the Australian Antarctic Program website).

The Antarctic stations are extremely isolated communities, with just a single doctor at each, and it’s critical that Dr Li is ready for a wide range of scenarios. Each station doctor is supported remotely by the polar medicine unit based in Hobart.

To prepare for his mission, Dr Li moved to Tasmania in July to study expedition and wilderness medicine at the University of Tasmania. He leaves for his Antarctic adventure at the beginning of November, so we’ll keep you up to date with his experience in coming newsletters.

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What should your RPGP grant be used for?

The Rural Procedural Grants Program (RPGP) is designed to assist you as a procedural GP and or a GP practising in emergency medicine with, the cost of attending CPD to maintain and/or enhance your skills. Grants provided under the RPGP are intended to offset expenses associated with attending CPD activities, such as course costs, travel and accommodation, and locum costs.

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Clinical attachments

If you want to do a clinical attachment, please make sure you have clear learning objectives. For instance, if you’re an anaesthetist and don’t have many opportunities to practice epidurals in your town, you may want to go to a larger tertiary centre or maternity hospital to consolidate your skills and learn the latest techniques from a Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (FANZCA). This will incur costs to you, and that’s where the grant will come in to help you.

Unfortunately, doing a shift at your hospital means you’re being paid to do your job and you have some sort of supervision or instruction for the day, so this doesn’t meet the criteria for a clinical attachment.

If you’re unsure, please feel free to contact us at rural.procedural.grants@racgp.org.au with any questions.

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Online learning grants

Grants for online learning will no longer be available after 31 December 2021.

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This Rural Life

The RACGP has launched a new digital project to inspire more people to consider a career in rural general practice and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.

A collaboration of the Rural and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health faculties, This Rural Life shines a spotlight on rural and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander GPs across all career stages by sharing their incredible stories.

It’s intended to be a living project and GPs across the country are being asked to contribute.

Visit the RACGP website to find out more or share your story

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Rural health webinar: Disruptive disorders in childhood

Date: Thursday 4 November 2021

Time: 8.00–9.00 pm AEDT

Venue: Zoom

Join the RACGP for a free webinar on disruptive disorders in childhood, including management of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD). These will be explored with a particular focus on the challenges these settings provide, as well as some practical tips that can be applied to diagnosis, evaluation, treatment and management pathways. This events attracts two CPD points.

Register here

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RPGP: Did you know?

Frequently asked questions

We have a great section on our website with some common FAQs, for example:

When an activity is run over two financial years, the grant is to be paid in the financial year that it is claimed. The payment will be taken from the grant allocation of the financial year that training is completed.

Visit the website to read the FAQs and let us know if you’d like anything else added.

Upcoming courses

We encourage you to check with us as to whether an emergency mental health training course is approved for a grant. Some courses don’t have enough emergency/acute context or content, so it’s best to check before registering if you’d like to claim a grant.

Although these events are currently scheduled to go ahead (with strict COVID-19 hygiene principles in place), refer to up-to-date government guidelines prior to attending. Delivery format and dates may be subject to change. Your health and wellbeing always come first.

Face-to-face

Online

You cannot bundle two unrelated courses together to make up a day. The must be modules in a set course to be approved.

Rural Procedural Grants Newsletter, August 2021

In this issue:

• Online portal update
• Online portal FAQs
• Update your information
• New team member
• Tax time
• Online training
• Upcoming courses

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The latest news

Online portal update

We hope you’re all getting the hang of the new online claims portal, and we’d like to thank you for continuing to send in your feedback and highlighting areas that could be tweaked to make it more user-friendly. We’ve listened and plan to make some improvements in the next month to improve your experience.

We’ve compiled a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) on using the portal (see below). Please take a look at these and the online claims guide to help you navigate the claims process.

We’d like to thank you again for your patience during the transition to the online claims process. We’re working our way through the claims submitted in July and will be back on track soon to provide you with a faster turnaround time. If you’re waiting on anything urgent, please let us know so we can assist you.

The RPGP team is here to help, so call us on 1800 636 764 or email rural.procedural.grants@racgp.org.au if you’re having trouble with your online access, or if you have any feedback to share with us.

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Online portal FAQs

We’ve compiled a list of the most common questions we receive about the online portal.

Q: The form asks me for my account number. Is this my RACGP number?

A: No, your RPGP account number is not the same as your RACGP number. You were sent an email on 1 June 2021 with your RPGP account number. The temporary answer to your security question is your surname with the first letter capitalised, unless you enrolled in the program after we launched the online portal, in which case you would have set this up yourself.

Q: I registered to access the online portal a while ago and now I want to apply for a grant. Where do I find the log-in page?

A: Visit the RPGP website. Scroll down and click on the ‘Make a claim’ button, which will take you to the log in page. We recommend you bookmark this link in your internet browser or add it to your favourite pages so you can easily find it next time.

Q: My claim was rejected, and I need further information. What should I do?

A: Log in to the online portal, open ‘My tasks’ and you’ll see your grant application. To resubmit your claim, open the claim, attach the requested information and submit. You don’t have to fill it all out again.

Q: How do I update my details?

A: Email your new details to us at rural.procedural.grants@racgp.org.au

Q: Can I put all my claims on the same form?

A: No, you need to complete one form for each claim linked to one component of the program.

Q: I’ve sent in several claims and one was rejected. How do I know which one it was?

A: The rejection notice will have a task number on it. You’ll be able to see your completed claims under ‘My tasks’ in the online portal and that will show you what has been approved.

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Update your information

We can’t approve your grant application if we don’t have your current employment information. Many credentialing letters (scope of practice) expired on 30 June 2021.

Once your credentials or clinical privileges have expired, email us the updated document along with a roster with your name listed on it and a contract saying you’re employed to provide emergency, obstetric, anaesthetic or surgical services.

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New team member

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Tax time

The Department of Health has advised that grant payments don’t include GST, so you should retain your payment advice for tax requirements.

Incentive payments must be declared for tax purposes, and we advise you to seek advice from your financial advisor, accountant or the Australian Taxation Office regarding tax arrangements.

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Online training

We’re pleased to let you know the current RPGP COVID-19 flexibilities that allow online training have been extended to 31 December 2021.

This means you can continue claiming costs for a limited number of online procedural or emergency medicine CPD activities, at a rate of $1000 per day.

Don’t forget that online training must fit the criteria for a grant and is subject to the following caps:

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Upcoming courses

We encourage you to check with us whether an emergency mental health training course is approved for a grant. Some courses don’t have enough emergency/acute context or content so it’s best to check before registering if you’d like to claim a grant.

Although these events are currently scheduled to go ahead (with strict COVID-19 hygiene principles in place), refer to up-to-date government guidelines prior to attending. Delivery format and dates may be subject to change. Your health and wellbeing always come first.

Face-to-face

Online

Rural Procedural Grants Newsletter, June 2021

In this issue:

• End-of-financial-year claims
• Online claims portal
• Rejected claims
• Viewing historical transactions
• Supervised clinical attachments
• Updated program guidelines
• Upcoming courses

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The latest news

End-of-financial-year claims

As we approach the end of the financial year, we’d like to remind you of the claims rules for the Rural Procedural Grants Program (RPGP). You can claim for the current financial year and the previous financial year, but nothing beyond that.

Your claims must be entered online before Wednesday 30 June 2021. Please remember that this is our busiest time of the year, and it may take some time for us to approve and pay your claim. We’re experiencing a backlog of claims and are working our way through these. We’ll get to your claim as soon as we can.

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Online claims portal

The RACGP has launched an online portal to make it easier for you to access the program and submit your claims.

RPGP participants who are using the portal tell us it’s intuitive, time-saving and easy to use, so we encourage you to start using it. We’re no longer able to manually submit claims for you and can’t accept any claims sent via email.

The RPGP team is here to help, so call us on 1800 636 764 or email rural.procedural.grants@racgp.org.au if you’re having trouble with your online access. We’ll walk you through the steps to log in and make a claim.

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Rejected claims

The main reason a claim is rejected is because we have incorrect information on file, so please ensure your information is up to date.

Locums

Supply evidence you’ve completed 28 days per financial year prior to claiming.

Permanent contracts

Email us with:

• the name and address of your current practice
• a credentialing letter stating your unsupervised clinical privileges, scope of practice and the duration of credentialing
• a letter of employment stating the services you’re employed to provide (emergency/anaesthetic/obstetric or surgery) and the duration of the contract
• an on-call roster with your name listed.

If we don’t have the correct information, we’ll have to reject your claim until we receive more information. You can resubmit the same claim as soon as you’ve emailed us your updated details. You don’t need to complete the form again.

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Viewing historical transactions

If you want to see your past claims, look for the My Transactions button next to the claim form when you log in to the RPGP online portal. You can open your list of transactions and use the filter to search for all of your claims to date.

Please note that we’ve identified a glitch in the system, and we’re working to rectify it quickly. As an example, if you ticked all the components of the program when making a claim for an emergency grant, the results would list your claim against any component, even though you entered the number of days under the component you wanted to use. We’ll fix these records and change the way you’re able to select the component you want to put the training against.

Remember you can only make one claim per component.

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Supervised clinical attachments

Once you’ve completed your supervised clinical attachment, you’ll need to upload a letter from your hospital or a completed supervised clinical attachment supporting evidence form.

The information should contain:

• the hours and dates you were at your teaching hospital
• signatures and contact details for your supervisor
• a summary of what you were learning.

Please clearly outline your learning objectives, educational exposure and learning outcomes.

• Learning objective: A general statement about what you wanted to learn throughout the attachment.
• Learning outcomes: A specific statement describing exactly what measurable skills and abilities you’ve developed.

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RPGP: Did you know?

Updated program guidelines

New program guidelines took effect from 1 January 2021. These guidelines provide information on all of the updated eligibility requirements for the program and supersede the 2011 guidelines.

The key reforms are as follows:

• Modified Monash Model (MMM) categories 3–7 have been adopted.
• Locums must conduct their placements in MMM 3–7 areas to be eligible for the program. 
• You must be on a training pathway to Fellowship or already a Fellow (vocationally registered) of either the RACGP or ACCRM.
• Principal clinical practice must be physically located in a MMM 3–7 region.

Check your location to confirm if you’re still eligible.

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Upcoming courses

Upcoming courses – Face-to-face

Note: Online training courses will no longer be eligible from 30 June 2021.

Although these events are currently scheduled to go ahead (with strict COVID-19 hygiene principles in place), refer to up-to-date government guidelines prior to attending. Delivery format and dates may be subject to change. Your health and wellbeing always come first.

This program is funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health.

Rural Procedural Grants Newsletter, May 2021

Vale, Cheryl Shepley

Cheryl Shepley, our valued RACGP Rural faculty team member, unexpectedly passed away two weeks ago after some health-related issues.

Cheryl joined the RACGP’s Rural team in June 2013, initially supporting the Rural Council before moving into a key role delivering the Rural Procedural Grants Program.

From the South Australia faculty office, Cheryl has worked closely with members, staff and external stakeholders; all Cheryl’s roles have been member facing.

Cheryl was calm, kind and could always find a solution to any problem. She was a loved member of the Rural and SA faculty teams and she will be missed.

If you have any stories of Cheryl you’d like to share, please email them to rural@racgp.org.au and we'll pass them on to her family.

During this time it may take us a bit longer to get back to you. We appreciate your patience and we will respond to you as soon as possible.

Best regards,

Chris Kyranis

Manager – RACGP Rural

In this issue:

• RPGP online system
• Making a claim
• Historical transactions: Are you in an MMM 1–2 location?
• Supervised clinical attachments
• Go beyond with Practice to Practice
• RPGP: Did you know?
• Upcoming courses – Face-to-face
• Upcoming courses – Digital

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The latest news

RPGP online system

The RACGP has launched an online portal to make it easier for you to access the program and submit your claims. We’d like to thank you for your continued patience as we work to transition to the new system.

The RPGP team is here to help set up your account and log in. If you haven’t accessed the system yet, please call us on 1800 636 764 between 8.30 am – 4.00 pm AEST from Monday to Friday and ensure that you can access your email via your computer or device. We only need five minutes to help you log in.

We’ll email you the details while you’re on the phone and walk you through the steps to log in and access the online portal.

RPGP participants who are using the system are telling us that it’s intuitive, time-saving and easy to use, so we encourage you to get in touch with us to get started with the portal.

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Making a claim

You will need an account number to submit a claim for training in the new online portal. We recently sent you your account number by email. Please take note of this number and save it for use during the online claims process.

The temporary answer to your security question is your surname. You will be required to set a new security question for future use.

We have also created a user guide for the claims process to help you navigate the new system.

Download the online claim guide

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Historical transactions: Are you in an MMM 1–2 location?

If yes, you’re no longer eligible to participate in the RPGP. However, you have until 30 June 2021 to claim for training undertaken from 1 July 2020 to 1 January 2021. You can consider some locum work in these areas to maintain your registration.

Find more information regarding the criteria on our website, or you can give us a call and we’ll talk you through it. You can go to the Department of Health website to check the Health Workforce classification for your area.

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Supervised clinical attachments

Once you’ve completed your supervised clinical attachment, you’ll need to upload a letter from your hospital or a completed supervised clinical attachment supporting evidence form.

The information should contain:

• the hours and dates you were at your teaching hospital
• signatures and contact details for your supervisor
• a summary of what you were learning.

Please clearly outline your learning objectives, educational exposure and learning outcomes.

Learning objective: A general statement about what you wanted to learn throughout the attachment.

Learning outcomes: A specific statement describing exactly what measurable skills and abilities you’ve developed.

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Go beyond with Practice to Practice

The RACGP has launched a pilot program to connect general practices in diverse geographical areas. And we’re looking for more participants from urban and rural Australia to jump onboard.

Practice to Practice connects urban and rural practices in an effort to grow locum pools, increase peer support, enhance professional development and provide a greater service offering for patients.

The program encourages you to go beyond your everyday and try life and work in a different practice setting.

General practices all over Australia can participate in Practice to Practice. Whether you’re based in an urban, regional, rural or remote area, the program has benefits for you, your team and your patient community. The RACGP will help find you a ‘match’ in a region quite different to your own, and you’ll have the opportunity to tailor the partnership to get what you want out of it.

Though the program is designed to link practices, it can also help individual GPs connect with a practice in a different area.

Places for our pilot program are limited, so visit the RACGP Practice to Practice website to register your interest.

Register your interest

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RPGP: Did you know?

1. If your documents are not up to date, then we can’t approve your claim. You’ll need to provide the following:
   • The current name and address of your practice
   • A credentialing letter stating your unsupervised clinical privileges and scope of practice, the duration of credentialing and an on call roster
2. You can’t claim for musculoskeletal (MSK) ultrasound training. Any MSK training should be approved by the RPGP team before you start the course.

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Upcoming courses

Upcoming courses – Face-to-face

Although these events are currently scheduled to go ahead (with strict COVID-19 hygiene principles in place), refer to up-to-date government guidelines prior to attending. Delivery format and dates may be subject to change. Your health and wellbeing always come first.

Course name	Date, location	Grant approved
2021 Anaesthetics Procedural Conference	14–15 May 2021 Sydney NSW	Two days, anaesthetics
Introduction to point-of-care ultrasound – Coffs Harbour	Saturday 15 May 2021	One day, all domains
Emergency paediatrics	15–16 May 2021 Gold Coast QLD	One day, emergency
Advanced paediatric life support	19–21 May 2021 Alice Springs NT	Three days, all domains
Toxicological emergencies	21 May 2021 Albany WA	One day, emergency
Western trauma course	19 June 2021 Northam WA	One day, emergency
Emergency trauma management course	Multiple locations and dates	One day, emergency
Rural emergency advanced clinical training (REACT+)	26–27 June 2021 Geraldton WA	Two days, emergency
Emergency ultrasound for rural and remote medicine	28–30 June 2021 Melbourne VIC	Three days, all domains
Introduction to point-of-care ultrasound – Toowoomba	Saturday 17 July 2021 Toowoomba QLD	One day, all domains
Introduction to point-of-care ultrasound – Port Lincoln	Saturday 7 August 2021 Port Lincoln SA	One day, all domains

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Upcoming courses – Digital

Course	Format, location	Grant approved
LearnEM courses	Multiple options, online	Grant dependent on course
Cardiac bootcamp self-study course	At your own pace, online	Three days, emergency
Trauma radiology	At your own pace, online	Two days, emergency or surgery
Ultrasound – Medical and surgical online	At your own pace, online	Two days, all components excluding emergency mental health
Ultrasound – Critical care online	At your own pace, online	Two days, all components excluding emergency mental health
Fetal surveillance education program	Online	One day, obstetric
Advanced life support course	Six hours online, plus virtual clinical assessment	One day, emergency or anaesthetic
Perinatal training program	At your own pace, online	Obstetrics grant dependent on modules completed
neoResus	3–5 hours online	One day, obstetric, emergency and anaesthetics
ABCDs of acute behavioural emergencies	At your own pace, online	Two days, emergency mental health

This program is funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health.

Rural Procedural Grants – February 2021 update

In this issue:

• Online system
• Online training
• Emergency mental health
• Go beyond with Practice to Practice
• Women in rural health: Share your views
• Existing funding and eligibility
• Supervised clinical attachments
• Upcoming courses – Face-to-face
• Upcoming courses – Digital

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The latest news

Online system

We’re making the final adjustments to our new online system, which will be going live in the near future. You’ll receive an email with your login number and instructions on using the system. We’ll also put these instructions on our website. For those of you who aren’t fans of technology, don’t be alarmed – the system is very user friendly.

Features of the system include the ability to retrieve statements for tax and a list of your claims for a financial year.

The RPGP team is here to help. Please contact us if you have any questions about the new system.

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Online training

The revised COVID-19 eligibility arrangements for claiming RPGP support for online CPD activities will remain in place until 30 June 2021. We’d like to remind you that any online training must be completed by this date.

Online activities must be for a minimum of four hours and be related to the component/s you’re registered in, be interactive, include an assessment component and include a certificate of completion.

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Emergency mental health

As a new RPGP component, emergency mental health is still evolving and more courses are becoming available. RACGP and ACRRM are working together to determine the appropriate definitions and acceptable training and we’ll continue to keep you updated on this. In the meantime, if you find any courses you’re interested in, you’re welcome to send us a copy of the program and we’ll let you know if it’s eligible for an emergency mental health grant.

Please consider a supervised clinical attachment option in an acute inpatient mental health unit. These services provide voluntary and involuntary short-term inpatient management and treatment during an acute phase of mental illness, until the person has recovered enough to be treated effectively and safely in the community. These services are located within acute general hospitals. If you do consider a clinical attachment, please send us a copy of your learning objectives prior to starting the attachment so we can assess its eligibility for an emergency mental health grant.

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Go beyond with Practice to Practice

Launching in early March 2021, the RACGP’s Practice to Practice program links practices in different Modified Monash Model areas and encourages a mutually beneficial relationship to develop between them. Participating practices will enjoy opportunities for coaching and mentoring, chances to locum, exposure to different skills and services, peer-to-peer support and problem solving, and remote telehealth workforce support. Each relationship will differ depending on the needs of the practices.

Find out what it’s like to work in a different location, experience the challenges and access mentoring/training, all while receiving peer support from GPs in these communities. Working in another location boosts your professional development and opens up new career possibilities. It’s your chance to make a difference to rural and remote health outcomes.

Register your interest

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Women in rural health: Share your views

RACGP Rural is seeking your views on professional, personal and community factors that influence women in rural general practice, including barriers faced while working and living in rural or remote communities or considering a rural career.

Women in rural general practice can be both doctors and carers and require good support, services and networks.

Historically, female doctors in Australia have been outnumbered by males, and this still rings true in rural communities. Women are also poorly represented in Australia's rural medical workforce. Rural communities require a gender balance to provide appropriate access to care, and lower rates of female doctors in rural areas means it’s often difficult for female patients to see a female GP.

More advocacy and support initiatives tailored to the needs of female GPs are required to sustain and grow our workforce. Please take our short survey to help identify priorities for action, consider potential solutions and determine how we can better support women in rural general practice, now and in the future.

Dr Renee Strazzari

Deputy Chair, RACGP Rural

Take the survey

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RPGP: Did you know?

Existing funding and eligibility

If you’ve already received funding from the Commonwealth, State or Territory government for a training program, it will not be eligible for a Rural Procedural Grant.

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Supervised clinical attachments

A supervised clinical attachment must be a minimum of six hours in a clinical or a hospital setting. Your aim should be to either learn new specific skills or update your specific skills and knowledge.

Supervised clinical attachments must be an educational training activity. The training must not be a day that you’re remunerated for. The grant is a contribution towards expenses related to attending the continuing professional development (CPD) activity and is not expected to cover the entire cost of the CPD activity and associated expenses.

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Upcoming courses

Upcoming courses – Face-to-face

From January 2021, training held outside Australia won’t be approved for grants.

Although the following events are currently scheduled to go ahead (with strict COVID-19 hygiene protocols in place), refer to up-to-date government guidelines prior to attending. Delivery format and dates may be subject to change. Your health and wellbeing always come first.

Course	Date/ location	Grant approved
Rural and remote emergency medicine skills workshop	12–14 February 2021 Perth WA	2 days, emergency medicine
De-escalating conflict and aggression	18 February or 4 May 2021 Subiaco WA	1 day, emergency mental health
Rural emergency medicine forum	20–21 February 2021 Perth WA	1 day, emergency, dependent on sessions
Basic and advanced life support	26–27 February 2021 Brisbane QLD	2 days, emergency and anaesthetics
CTEC’s The cutting edge: Introductory GP wound suturing workshop	26 February 2021 Perth WA	1 day, surgery
Fetal surveillance education program	27 February 2021 Sydney NSW	1 day, obstetrics
Focused cardiac ultrasound workshop	6–7 March 2021 Hobart TAS	2 days, obstetrics, emergency, anaesthetic and surgery
Paediatric advanced life support	14 March 2021 Sydney NSW	3 days, emergency or anaesthetic grant
FPAA certificate in reproductive and sexual health for doctors	15–19 March 2021 Northbridge WA	5 days, obstetrics
Ultrasound in rural medicine	22–26 March 2021 Broadbeach QLD	3 days, emergency and 5 days, obstetrics, anaesthetic or surgery
Ultrasound in rural medicine core	22–24 March 2021 Broadbeach QLD	3 days, emergency, obstetrics, anaesthetic or surgery
Basic and advanced life support	26–27 March 2021 Brisbane QLD	2 days, emergency and anaesthetics
RANZCOG diplomates day	7 April 2021 Darwin NT	1 day, obstetrics
RANZCOG fetal surveillance education program	8 April 2021 Darwin NT	1 day, obstetrics
CTEC’s The cutting edge: Managing skin and soft tissue injuries workshop	14 May 2021 Crawley WA	1 day, emergency or surgery
Focused cardiac ultrasound workshop	15–16 May 2021 Adelaide SA	2 days, obstetrics, emergency, anaesthetic and surgery
Mental health emergencies	16 August 2021 Cairns QLD	1 day, emergency mental health
Emergency trauma management course	Multiple 2021	3 days, emergency, anaesthetic or surgery

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Upcoming courses – Digital

Course	Format, location	Grant approved
LearnEM courses	Multiple options, online	Grant dependent on course
Cardiac bootcamp self-study course	At your own pace, online	Three days, emergency
Trauma radiology	At your own pace, online	Two days, emergency or surgery
Ultrasound – Medical and surgical online	At your own pace, online	Two days, all components excluding emergency mental health
Ultrasound – Critical care online	At your own pace, online	Two days, all components excluding emergency mental health
Fetal surveillance education program	Online	One day, obstetric
Advanced life support course	Six hours online, plus virtual clinical assessment	One day, emergency or anaesthetic
Perinatal training program	At your own pace, online	Obstetrics grant dependent on modules completed
neoResus	3–5 hours online	One day, obstetric, emergency and anaesthetics
ABCDs of acute behavioural emergencies	At your own pace, online	Two days, emergency mental health

This program is funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health.

Rural Procedural Grants – December 2020 update

In this issue:

• Season’s greetings
• RACGP end-of year closure
• End-of-year claims
• Eligibility update: MMM 3–7
• Eligibility update: Registrars
• Credentialing update
• Reminder: 2021 locum placements
• Upcoming courses – Face-to-face
• Upcoming courses – Digital

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Season’s greetings

We wish you and your family a very merry Christmas and a COVID-free new year!

Stay safe over this festive season. We acknowledge and appreciate those who have to work over during this period, and hope your rural or remote community remains safe and healthy.

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RACGP end-of-year closure

The RACGP offices will be closed over the Christmas and new year period from Monday 21 December 2020. All offices will re-open on Monday 4 January 2021.

When we re-open next year, we’ll likely have a backlog of enquiries, applications and claims, so we ask for your patience as we aim to respond to all enquiries as soon as possible.

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End-of-year claims

We encourage you to submit any claims to rural.procedural.grants@racgp.org.au before Sunday 13 December 2020. Any claims sent in after that date won’t be processed until after 4 January 2021.

Depending on the volume of last-minute claims, we can’t guarantee your claim submission will meet the 14 December payment run. Please ensure all your information is complete for a seamless process. You can continue to submit your claims after the cut-off date, but we’ll only be able to release payments from mid-January 2021.

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Eligibility update: MMM 3–7

From 1 January 2021, only GPs providing services in MMM 3–7 locations will be eligible for the Rural Procedural Grants Program. Participants will have six months to submit claims for training completed from 1 July 2020 to 31 December 2020.

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Eligibility update: Registrars

The Department of Health has confirmed that registrars on a GP fellowship pathway will remain eligible for the Rural Procedural Grants Program. The decision to restrict the program to vocationally registered GPs has been revised.

Revised guidelines for the program will take effect from 1 January 2021, which include new eligibility criteria for participants and training. Take some time to read about the changes on the RACGP website.

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Credentialing update

We have a backlog of claims awaiting updated credential documents. We need to make sure you’re still eligible for the program by sighting your scope of practice and confirming your documents are current.

Some participants have been issued with interim credentials due to COVID-19; if that’s the case, please forward your interim documents to rural.procedural.grants@racgp.org.au  

As always when you forward credentials, please include a current on-call roster to maintain your enrolment in the program.

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Reminder: 2021 locum placements

As a GP locum, you must provide on-call services in a MMM 3–7 area to be eligible for the program.

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Upcoming courses – Face-to-face

From January 2021, training held outside Australia won’t be approved for grants.

Although the following events are currently scheduled to go ahead (with strict COVID-19 hygiene protocols in place), refer to up-to-date government guidelines prior to attending. Delivery format and dates may be subject to change. Your health and wellbeing always come first.

Course name	Date, location	Grant approved
CTEC the cutting edge: Advanced hand surgery for GPs	16 December 2020, Perth WA	1 day surgery
CTEC the cutting edge: Advanced procedures workshop	17 December 2020, Perth WA	1 day surgery
Paediatric advanced life support	20 December 2020, Brisbane QLD	1 day all domains
Advanced life support level 1	28 January 2021, Canberra ACT	1 days emergency medicine or anaesthetics
Focused cardiac ultrasound workshop	Multiple 2021 dates and venues	1 days emergency medicine or anaesthetics
Paediatric emergencies and clinical healthcare scenarios (PEaCHS)	5 February 2021, Denmark WA	1 days emergency medicine and anaesthetics
Advanced life support level 1	11 February 2021, Sydney NSW	1 day emergency or anaesthetic
Rural emergency medicine	12–14 February 2021, Brisbane QLD	2 days emergency medicine, anaesthetics and obstetrics
Basic and advanced life support	12–13 February 2021, Melbourne VIC	2 days emergency and anaesthetics
Rural & remote emergency medicine skills workshop	13–14 February 2021, Albany WA	2 days emergency medicine
Paediatric advanced life support	14 February 2021, Melbourne VIC	1 day all domains
Advanced life support 2 recertification	24 February 2021, Adelaide SA	1 day emergency and anaesthetics
CTEC the cutting edge: Introductory GP wound suturing workshop	26 February 2021, Perth WA	1 day surgery
Advanced life support level 2	27–28 February 2021, Adelaide SA	2 days emergency and anaesthetics
Emergency trauma management course	Multiple 2021 dates and venues	2 days emergency medicine
Neonatal emergency care (NEC)	4–5 March 2021, Geraldton WA	1 day emergency and obstetric
Emergency airway skills management (EAM)	12 March 2021, Busselton WA	1 day anaesthetics and emergency
Trauma team simulation training	27 March 2021, Perth WA	1 day emergency or anaesthetic
Emergency cardiology	27–28 March 2021, Brisbane QLD	2 days emergency medicine
Obstetric emergencies	30 April 2021, Bridgetown WA	1 day obstetric

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Upcoming courses – Digital

Course name	Format, location	Grant approved
LearnEM courses	Multiple options, online	Grant dependent on course
Cardiac bootcamp self-study course	At your own pace, online	3 days emergency
Trauma radiology	At your own pace, online	2 days emergency or surgery
Ultrasound – Medical and surgical online	At your own pace, online	2 days, all components
Ultrasound – Critical care online	At your own pace, online	2 days, all components
Fetal Surveillance Education Program	Online	1 day obstetric
Advanced life support course	6 hours online plus virtual clinical assessment	1 day emergency or anaesthetic
Perinatal training program	At your own pace, online	Obstetrics grant dependent on modules completed
neoResus	3–5 hours online	1 day obstetric, emergency and anaesthetics
Perioperative	At your own pace, online	Anaesthetic, obstetric or emergency dependent on course and modules
ABCDs of acute behavioural emergencies	At your own pace online	2 days emergency mental health

 

Rural Procedural Grants – October update

In this issue:

• Extended COVID-19 support - online training
• Defining skills maintenance and upskilling
• Rural Procedural Grants Program (RPGP) changes
• Emergency mental health training
• Supervised clinical attachments
• Upcoming courses – face-to-face
• Upcoming courses – online

Extended COVID-19 support – online training

It’s been an incredibly challenging year, and we’d like to thank you for the work you continue to do on the front lines.

Though we’re starting to see some light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel, the Australian Government and the RACGP have put in place some revised eligibility arrangements for the RPGP to support you and ensure you can still access subsidised continuing professional development (CPD) activities.

We’ve extended these arrangements so they’re now available until 30 June 2021.

We’ve lifted the restrictions on claiming RPGP support for online CPD activities so you can claim for a limited number of online procedural/emergency medicine activities, at a rate of $1000 per day. The online training cap remains the same: three days for emergency, three days for emergency mental health and 10 days for procedural.

You can find more details in the COVID-19 addendum to the RPGP guidelines on the RACGP website.

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Defining skills maintenance and upskilling

The RPGP improves rural and remote healthcare delivery and workforce retention by supporting GPs to complete CPD to maintain or enhance existing procedural skills.

So, what is skills maintenance and upskilling?

Skills maintenance	Complying with RACGP requirements to maintain your clinical privileging rights
Upskilling	Improving or extending your current skill level or learning a new skill relevant to the enrolled emergency or procedural component, based on current Australian accredited procedural curriculum and guidelines

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RPGP changes

The new RPGP guidelines take effect on 1 January 2021. You can find a copy of the guidelines on the RACGP website.

Some of the key changes

• Health workforce classification: All program participants, including locums, must be practising in Modified Monash Model (MMM) 3–7 locations. To find out which MMM classification you’re in, use the Department of Health's Health Workforce Locator map.
• Requirement to be vocationally registered: If you’re not vocationally registered, you won’t be able to participate in the RPGP until you have Fellowed. You’ll be unable to undertake training from 1 January 2021, but you’ll have six months to submit claims for training you completed before 31 December 2020.

Program eligibility: You won’t be eligible for the program if you’re participating in training for which direct financial support is provided by federal, state or territory governments.

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Emergency mental health training

If you’re enrolled in the emergency component of the RPGP, you may be eligible for the new emergency mental health component.

Emergency mental health is the urgent assessment, investigation and/or management of an acute mental health problem, including acute psychosis; severe depression; threatened or attempted self-harm or harm of others; or when a patient is brought to hospital under an involuntary detention order for urgent mental health assessment.

To enrol, submit a letter from the hospital stating you’re responsible for providing care for emergency mental health services or crisis intervention in patients with acute mental health issues.

We’ve approached education providers to develop training in this area because finding mental health courses that focus on the ‘emergency’ aspect has been difficult. Mental health training that you would need to use in your clinic to develop management plans is not considered ‘emergency’.

Courses take time to develop, so if you’ve found any great existing courses in this area, please email us at rural.procedural.grants@racgp.org.au and we’ll share them with RPGP participants.

Some of you have been doing supervised clinical attachments at acute mental health units, and the hands-on experience has been invaluable. Key learning areas include:

• drug-induced and medical issues
• sedation and post-sedation care
• management of patients who display aggressive behaviour and those with mental health disorders
• rapid treatment of agitation
• restraint and seclusion use
• evaluation of medical comorbidities
• active treatment for substance intoxication or withdrawal.

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Supervised clinical attachment

For supervised clinical attachment grant applications, please make sure the claim form and the attachment form are completed and signed by a qualified supervisor. Submit the forms with an email outlining your learning objectives, educational exposure and learning outcomes.

A learning objective is a general statement about what you want to learn in the clinical attachment. A learning outcome is a specific statement describing exactly what measurable skills and abilities you wish to develop.

Supervised clinical attachments are educational training activities, not a day for which you’re remunerated for working at another hospital. The grant is not expected to cover the entire cost of the CPD activity and associated expenses – it’s a contribution towards expenses related to attending the CPD activity.

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2021 Western Australian Rural Health Excellence Awards

The WA Rural Health Awards celebrate the achievements of clinicians who have enhanced the range and quality of medical care available in rural locations. If you know a colleague worthy of recognition, consider nominating them for Procedural GP/District Medical Officer of the Year.

For more information on the award categories and criteria, visit the Rural Health West website. Nominations close Monday 30 November 2020.

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Upcoming courses – face-to-face

From January 2021, training held outside of Australia will not be approved for grants.

Although these events are currently scheduled to go ahead (with strict COVID-19 hygiene principles in place), refer to up-to-date government guidelines prior to attending. Delivery format and dates may be subject to change. Your health and wellbeing always come first.

Course name	Date/location	Grant approved
Focused cardiac ultrasound workshop	7–8 November 2020, Geelong VIC	2 days emergency, obstetric, anaesthetic and surgery
Focused cardiac ultrasound workshop	21–22 November 2020, Brisbane QLD	2 days emergency, obstetric, anaesthetic and surgery
Trauma skills refresher	23 November, Geraldton WA	1 day emergency grant
Obstetric and gynaecological ultrasound	30 November – 4 December 2020, Broadbeach QLD	5 days obstetric, anaesthetic or surgery and 3 days emergency
Introduction to emergency medicine ultrasound	7–12 December 2020, Broadbeach QLD	5 days obstetric, anaesthetic or surgery and 3 days emergency
Ultrasound in rural medicine	14–18 December 2020, Broadbeach QLD	5 days obstetric, anaesthetic or surgery and 3 days emergency
Basic and advanced life support	11–12 December 2020, Parramatta NSW	2 days emergency or anaesthetics
Paediatric advanced life support	13 December, Parramatta NSW	1 day emergency or anaesthetics
Ultrasound in rural medicine core	14–16 December 2020, Broadbeach QLD	3 days emergency, obstetric, anaesthetic or surgery grant
CTEC’s The Cutting Edge: Advanced hand surgery for GPs workshop	16 December 2020, Crawley WA	1 day surgery
CTEC’s The Cutting Edge: Advanced procedures workshop	17 December 2020, Crawley WA	1 day surgery
Basic and advanced life support	18–19 December 2020, Brisbane QLD	2 days emergency or anaesthetics
Introduction to emergency medicine ultrasound	11–15‌ January 2020, Broadbeach QLD	5 days obstetric, anaesthetic or surgery and 3 days emergency

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Upcoming courses – digital

Course name	Format, location	Grant approved
LearnEM courses	Multiple options, online	Grant dependent on course
Cardiac bootcamp self-study course	At your own pace, online	3 days emergency
Trauma radiology	At your own pace, online	2 days emergency or surgery
Ultrasound – Medical and surgical online	At your own pace, online	2 days, all components
Ultrasound – Critical care online	At your own pace, online	2 days, all components
Fetal Surveillance Education Program	Online	1 day obstetric
Advanced life support course	6 hours online plus virtual clinical assessment	1 day emergency or anaesthetic
Perinatal training program	At your own pace, online	Obstetrics grant dependent on modules completed
neoResus	3–5 hours online	1 day obstetric, emergency and anaesthetics
Perioperative	At your own pace, online	Anaesthetic, obstetric or emergency dependent on course and modules
ABCDs of acute behavioural emergencies	At your own pace online	2 days emergency mental health
Emergency medicine for rural GPs workshop	Saturday 7 November 2020, 1.00–5.00 pm, online (Zoom)	1 day emergency (pending CPD approval)

Rural Procedural Grants – August update

In this issue:

• Caring for yourself in challenging times
• Locum placements
• Emergency mental health
• Update your practice details
• Historical claim information/statements
• Joint Consultative Committee on Anaesthesia CPD Standard
• RACGP Rural Awards
• Grants for online training

Caring for yourself in challenging times

Our thoughts are with all GPs at this time, but particularly those in the eastern states. It has been an incredibly challenging year and we’d like to thank you for all of your work on the frontlines.

Should you need help, don’t hesitate to contact the RACGP GP Support Program. This is a free and confidential psychological support service available to all members, delivered by LifeWorks. Access the service by calling 1300 361 008 (24 hours, seven days).
 

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Locum placements

Due to a recent policy change, we can no longer process locum grant claims until after you have completed 28 days of locum work for the financial year. You will still be entitled to the grant, but we now must see evidence of having completed the 28 days before your claim can be processed.

When you’re planning your locum work this financial year, please be aware that new guidelines will be in place from 30 December 2020. The currently applicable health workforce areas will change from 1 January 2021, and locum work will need to be conducted in MMM 3–7 areas for the next half of the financial year in order to be eligible for the grants program.

 

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Emergency mental health

Access to the new emergency mental health component of the Rural Procedural Grants Program is now available. You need to already be enrolled in emergency medicine if you want to claim for emergency mental health. To be eligible, we need a supporting letter from your hospital stating that you are responsible for providing care in respect of emergency mental health services/crisis intervention in patients presenting with acute mental health issues.

Please remember, training must be in relation to the ‘emergency’ aspect of mental health – not mental health plans that you would normally conduct in a general practice.

 

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Update your practice details

If you move practice, or your practice details change, please remember to keep us updated. We can change these details quickly and easily in our system, and ensure your continued eligibility in the program.
 

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Historical claim information/statements

Some of you have told us you have had issues retrieving statements through Health Professional Online Services (HPOS).

We have contacted the Department of Health, who informed us they are not aware of any issues with Provider Digital Access (PRODA) and statements prior to 1 July 2020 should be able to be retrieved. Contact the PRODA helpline on 1800 700 199 if you are unable to get into your account.
 

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Joint Consultative Committee on Anaesthesia CPD Standard

The Joint Consultative Committee on Anaesthesia (JCCA) CPD Standard is a means for GPs providing anaesthesia services to develop continuing professional development (CPD) activities in this area. Effective CPD is understood as educational activity that results in quality improvement in clinical practice. Curriculum for general practitioner anaesthesia is the standard reference for this program.

GPs who finish the JCCA CPD Standard program are given a certificate of completion by their college.

It is important to note this is separate to the Rural Procedural Grants Program (RPGP). Activities submitted for an RPGP grant will also need to be submitted to the RACGP state CPD office if adjudication towards the JCCA CPD Standard requirements is required.

Details of the 2020–22 JCCA CPD Standard will be added to the RACGP website by the end of August.
 

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RACGP Rural Awards

Nominations are now open for the 2020 RACGP Rural Awards, which recognise outstanding achievements and exceptional individuals for their contribution to rural general practice.

Do you know a rural or remote medical practitioner, GP in training or student who has made a valuable contribution to rural general practice? Let them know about the awards or nominate them today.

The 2020 awards include:

• Brian Williams Award
• Rural GP in Training of the Year Award
• Medical Student Bursary Award
• Community Project of the Year Award.

Awards are open nationally across all states and territories. Visit RACGP Rural Awards for more information and to nominate.
 

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Grants for online training

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, RACGP Rural worked with the Australian Government to implement revised eligibility arrangements for the RPGP as part of our efforts to support GPs during this unprecedented time.

Restrictions on claiming RPGP support for online CPD activities have been suspended until 31 December, and you can claim costs for a limited number of procedural or emergency medicine activities, at a rate of $1000 per day.

Please keep in mind that the training you choose must align with the component of the program in which you are enrolled. If you are enrolled in obstetrics for example you can’t claim for training focused only on emergency medicine.

If unsure whether a course is eligible for a grant, you can ask the Rural Procedural Grants Program (RPGP) team. We’ll review the program and get back to you.

RACGP Rural Procedural Grants Program expert Cheryl Shepley joins Anne Davis on the Practice THAT! podcast to explain the program which has been designed with training for rural GPs in mind.
 

Rural Procedural Grants – June update

In this issue:

• Temporary changes to the Rural Procedural Grants Program
• Important changes to the way you claim
• Online education eligibility
• I am a locum GP; can I still access the RPGP during COVID-19?
• Dual Fellows
• Last chance for 2018–19 claims
• Tax
• HPOS and accessing your statements

Temporary changes to the Rural Procedural Grants Program

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, RACGP Rural has been working with the Australian Government to implement revised eligibility arrangements for the Rural Procedural Grants Program (RPGP) as part of our efforts to support GPs during this unprecedented time. 

These changes include the ability to claim for online education for a limited time, and additional emergency mental health funding from 1 July for eligible GPs.

In addition, restrictions on claiming RPGP support for online continuing professional development (CPD) activities will be suspended until 31 December. Participants can claim costs for a limited number of procedural/emergency medicine activities, at a rate of $1000 per day.

Find out more on the RACGP website.
 

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Important changes to the way you claim

From 1 July 2020, we will launch an online claims system for the Rural Procedural Grants Program to streamline the process and make it easier for you to make a claim.

As we move to the new system, there will be a transition period from 14–28 June 2020 during which we will temporarily be unable to process claims. Please submit any outstanding claims by 11 June 2020.

Any claims that have not been submitted by 11 June 2020 can be made on or after 1 July 2020 in the new online system. More details and instructions on the new claims process will be provided to you as soon as possible.
 

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Online education eligibility

We have had a number of enquiries regarding the types of online CPD activities that are eligible for RPGP support.

There seems to be some confusion as to how the process works, so hopefully this will help:

• You can claim for any online course you completed between 11 March 2020 and 30 June 2020, and it will come from your 2019–20 financial year allocation.
• You will need to submit your claim online using the new system on or after 1 July 2020. Just like any training, the financial year in which you complete the training is the year from which the allocation is taken.
• You can claim RPGP support for online CPD activities until 31 December 2020.

 

Online courses must:

• be focused on emergency medicine, anaesthetics, obstetrics or surgical procedural upskilling (the component of the program in which you are enrolled)
• be relevant in a hospital setting
• run for a minimum of four hours
• be interactive and include an assessment component
• include a certificate of completion.

 

If you are unsure a course fits the above parameters, please feel free to send the information to the RPGP team for adjudication prior to completion.

We are working on a list of eligible online courses, which we will share with you as soon as possible. In the meantime, here are some examples of eligible courses:

• LearnEM online courses
• RANZCOG’s Online Fetal Surveillance Education Program
• CRANAplus Advanced Life Support (ALS)

 

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I am a locum GP; can I still access the RPGP during COVID-19?

The Australian Government recognises that locums play an important role in delivering continuity of healthcare in rural and remote communities.

As such, locums who meet the RPGP eligibility requirements and deliver 28 days of services per year in rural and remote communities are eligible to access grant support for online CPD activities.

Please note, locums must complete 28 days for a financial year – there is no longer an eight-separate-placements arrangement.
 

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Dual Fellows

Specialists are excluded from the RPGP, even if they are also a GP.

So if you are a GP with an additional specialty qualification, such as Fellow of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, you are no longer eligible to participate.
 

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Last chance for 2018–19 claims

Any outstanding claims for the 2018–19 financial year must be submitted by 11 June 2020. You can claim for the current financial year and the previous financial year, but nothing beyond that.

As the end of the financial year fast approaches and we are faced with a surplus of adjudications for online courses, we appreciate your patience. We endeavour to respond to you as soon as we possibly can.
 

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Tax

Grant payments do not include GST, so you should retain your payment advice for tax requirements.

Incentive payments must be declared for tax purposes and we advise you to seek advice from your financial advisor, accountant or the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) regarding tax arrangements.
 

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HPOS and accessing your statements

The utilisation of Health Professionals Online Services (HPOS) for the RPGP will cease from 1 July 2020.

If you have previously accessed your statements electronically, you will be able to continue to access this information via HPOS, as payment advice sent to the HPOS mail centre will remain.

If you have been receiving this information via traditional postage, you will need to make a request to Services Australia to obtain this information. A cost may be incurred for this service.

The responsibility for processing grant payments will be transferring from Services Australia to the RACGP and the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) from 1 July 2020. This change will not affect RPGP participants.

The two colleges and the Department of Health will have limited access to historical information once Services Australia ceases processing of payments, so if you would like to access your HPOS statements we encourage you to do so now.