July 24, 2012
A record number of General Practitioner training places will be available next year for junior doctors in a bid to ease the chronic shortage of GPs across the country.
In Queensland, the number of training places available in the Australian General Practice Training program will rise from 211 to 236 in 2013.
In all 1100 places will be offered Australia-wide.
“We want to make it easier for families to be able to see a GP when and where they need one and this record number of GP training places will help that happen,” Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said.
The number of training positions has almost doubled since 2007.
“This is part of the Government’s plan to massively increase the medical workforce and by 2020 there will be an extra 5500 GPs and 680 specialist doctors nationwide,” Ms Plibersek said.
General Practice Education and Training is currently assessing 1510 applications for the Australian General Practice Training program.
Regional Training Providers will be interviewing shortlisted applicants in the coming weeks and will start making offers of training places in August/September. Successful applicants will start their training as GP registrars in 2013.
