×
The RACGP website will be unavailable on Monday 18th May from 8:15 PM - 9:00PM AEST due to scheduled maintenance. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Latest news


Page last updated 1 May 2026

Catch up on the latest Rural Procedural Grants Program news from our bi-monthly Rural Procedural Grants Program newsletter and more.

Rural Procedural Grants Newsletter, April 2026

In this issue:  

The latest news

Know someone? Please reach out!

Do you know someone who might be eligible for the Rural Procedural Grants Program? Spread the word! Our aim is to reach as many eligible GPs as possible that can benefit from the program and the funding it provides, which can be up to $32,000 per financial year. Someone you know could benefit from the program, and we'd love to support them, including:

  • GPs practising emergency medicine (including mental health services) in a rural hospital or an appropriately equipped health service on a regular roster
  • procedural GPs practising in surgery, anaesthetics, or obstetrics in a rural hospital, within a team environment and on a regular roster
  • registrars or Fellows who have already obtained the relevant procedural or emergency medicine skills and undertake a minimum of 28 days of locum work per financial year within MMM 3–7 locations.

If someone comes to mind, tell them to contact us via email at rural.procedural.grants@racgp.org.au, phone 1800 636 764, or visit our website to find out more.


Let's talk about attending conferences

Confused about the eligibility of conferences? Let us help. While the attendance at professional medical conferences is often recognised as valuable for learning and networking opportunities, not every conference qualifies for a Rural Procedural Grant. The determination of eligibility within the program is generally on a case-by-case basis, depending on:

  • the type of conference attended and the conference provider
  • the timing of the sessions attended
  • the session content relevance to the nominated grant category
  • whether the sessions were interactive / contained assessment
  • whether a certificate of attendance was issued.

To avoid disappointment and gain a better understanding of the eligibility of conferences under RPGP, please reach out to us when considering attendance. When submitting a conference for a claim, please include your certificate and a program with attended sessions indicated.


End-of-financial-year planning

Now that the 4th quarter of the 2025–26 financial year is well underway, it is time to consider your education planning and grant balance for the remainder of this financial year. If you are unsure where your balance is for this financial year, please email our team for assistance. If there are any activities you attended in the 2024–25 financial year but have not claimed yet, we encourage you to submit them to us ASAP, as we cannot accept claims for those activities after mid-June 2026. Key dates relating to the end of financial year claims processing and any grant system closures will be communicated in our June newsletter.


Prepare for 2026–27 locums

A reminder to 2025–26 locum participants that the end of financial year is approaching, and from 1 July 2026 we will require your new financial year locum information before being able to proceed with your claims. Those already familiar with the program locum policy may recall that we require evidence of completion for 28 days of locum work in the financial year before we can approve a claim, in addition to a credentialling letter from one of the hospitals you attend and indication if you were on an on-call roster.

We understand that, with a 28-day minimum, your locum dates are certainly not going to be completed as of 1 July, but we remind you that once your 28 days have been completed and eligibility confirmed, you can back-claim for those eligible activities that you attended from the beginning of the financial year.


Did you know?

Rural Procedural Grants Program claims can be accepted from the current and immediate previous financial year. This means until 30 June 2026, you can claim for 2024–25 financial year attended eligible activities. This also means that you can continue claiming 2025–26 financial year attended eligible activities until the end of next financial year.


Face-to-face activities

Course name

Date/location

Grant approved

Course name

Date/location

Grant approved

CT – acute medical and surgical interpretation essentials

 

Saturday 23 May, Gold Coast, QLD

Saturday, 20 June, Sydney, NSW

1 Day Emergency Medicine, Anaesthetics, Obstetrics or Surgery Grant

 

Unintended pregnancy counselling

 

 

11–12 May, Perth, WA

1 Day Obstetrics Grant

Introduction to point-of-care ultrasound for GPs

 

Saturday 9 May, Mount Barker, SA – More info | Register now

Saturday 27 June, Bendigo, Vic – More info | Register now

Saturday 18 July, Toowoomba, Qld – More info | Register now

Thursday 13 August, Darwin, NT – More info | Register now

Saturday 19 September, Melbourne, Vic – More info | Register now

Saturday 31 October, Orange, NSW – More info | Register now

1 Day Emergency Medicine, Anaesthetics, Obstetrics or Surgery Grant

The cutting edge: Advanced skin procedures

 

Friday 24 July, Perth, WA

1 Day Surgery Grant

The cutting edge: Managing skin and soft tissue injuries

Friday 12 June, Perth, WA

 

1 Day Surgery, Emergency Medicine Grant

Rural Procedural Grants Newsletter, February 2026

In this issue:  

The latest news

RACGP Welcome to 2026

On behalf of the Rural Procedural Grants Program (RPGP) team, we welcome all our participants to 2026 and look forward to looking after your claims. The 2025/26 financial calendar runs until 30 June, with the 2026/27 calendar beginning 1 July.


New RPGP guidelines update reminder

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing has updated the RPGP guidelines to include a new training model and updated funding amounts. As of 1 October 2025, RPGP-funded training includes hybrid training.

Hybrid training consists of a minimum of three hours of face-to-face training and three hours of related online training delivered in one day. If your training is not three hours face-to-face and three hours online for the same activity it is not a hybrid claim.

This new training model is funded at $1500 per eligible day. Hybrid claims fall within the normal face-to-face funding limits and are capped at 10 days for the Procedural grant component, and three days each for Emergency Medicine and Emergency Mental Health, displayed in the below table.

The new program guidelines and a helpful factsheet are available on our website, and the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing RPGP website. Participants are encouraged to contact the RACGP with any questions about the guideline changes.

Training Model Face-to-Face Training Hybrid Training Online Training
Daily Rate $2,000 $1,500 $1,000
Maximum Annual Financial Support – Procedural Stream $20,000
Maximum Annual Financial Support – Emergency Medicine Stream $6,000
Maximum Annual Financial Support – Emergency Mental Health Stream $6,000


Instructor claims  

Instructors of eligible activities can claim for instructing courses within their registered grant category once per course, per financial year.


Overseas activity pre-approval  

CPD training activities may be undertaken overseas in a face-to-face format, however they must meet the following criteria:

  • Training must be pre-approved by the RACGP
  • Activities must be education that is not available, or difficult to attend, in Australia (ie long waiting lists or distance constraints)
  • Participants must submit an attendance certificate
  • Participants must provide evidence of the number of days and hours of training attended
  • Participants must provide evidence of interactive sessions attended (ie highlighted program or other document)
  • Participants must provide evidence that the attended activity benefits procedural and/or emergency medicine skills maintenance, or supports upskilling in the rural Australian medical context

The updated Rural Procedural Grants Program guidelines are available on the RACGP website.

Please complete the overseas pre-approval form before registering for overseas training so we can confirm whether the proposed activity is eligible.


The RACGP is your CPD home

Have you finalised recording your CPD for 2025? 

Finalise your 2025 CPD record by 28 February to ensure that we can report your CPD compliance to Ahpra.

Use our step-by-step guide to: 

  • see which activities you can record and the correct CPD type 
  • log any outstanding EA, RP, and MO requirements 
  • apply for an exemption or variation if you were absent from practice for at least six continuous months in 2025 (eligibility rules apply) through this form.

If you do not want the RACGP to report your CPD compliance or non-compliance status to Ahpra (for example, you recorded your 2025 CPD with another CPD home or you have retired and will not renew your medical registration in 2026), please let us know as soon as possible.


Time to check and submit your paperwork

To get started, select the ‘RPGP Additional Information Form’ in your account (it’s on the far right-hand side) and upload a credentialing letter stating your unsupervised clinical privileges and scope of practice (including the duration of this credentialing), a letter of employment stating the services you are employed to provide, and the duration of the contract. These documents must also indicate if you were on an on-call roster. Alternatively, you can email this information to rural.procedural.grants@racgp.org.au.


Searching for CPD activities

We are happy to advise you now can view all online activities that are grant approved on the RPGP page; all these will be updated monthly so you have the most up to date activities to choose from.  

Want to find face-to-face, grant-approved educational activities?  

Is the RACGP your CPD home? If so, you can follow the steps below to locate and identify a selection of grant-approved activities for the various grant components. 

  1. Navigate to the RACGP website and log into your account. 
  2. Under the top tab Education, select CPD Home, then Browse Activities. 
  3. In the filter pane to the left of the screen, under Activity Criteria, tick the Rural Procedural Grants eligible box. You will then see all activities marked as grant eligible. 
  4. When you see an activity, you’re interested in, click View Activity – on the left of the page you’ll see Grants eligible, indicating the components it is currently eligible for. 

We hope that this may assist with determining course eligibility. Please note that this list is not exhaustive, and we can review any activity that you are interested in completing to maintain or upskill your emergency and/or procedural skills.  

If there is a course you would like us to review, please email us through the details of the course you are looking to attend and a copy of the program. 


Face-to-face activities

Course name

Date/location

Grant approved

CT – Acute Medical and Surgical Interpretation Essentials

23 May, Gold Coast, QLD

20 June, Sydney, NSW

1 Day Emergency Medicine, Anaesthetics, Obstetrics or Surgery Grant

Unintended Pregnancy Counselling

11–12 May, Perth, WA

1 Day Obstetrics Grant

Online emergency medicine for rural GPs workshop

21 March, online

1 Day Online Grant under Emergency Medicine


 

Contact RACGP Rural

racgp.org.au/rural 
  1800 636 764
  rural.procedural.grants@racgp.org.au 

Advertising

Advertising