May 14, 2024
Rural training opportunities for GPs were showcased last week as members of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) toured the South Burnett and Darling Downs.
The visit was part of an effort to encourage more registrars to live and work in key communities.
The RACGP tour gathered local knowledge from GPs and practice teams in Kingaroy, Murgon, Gympie, Crows Nest, Tara, Chinchilla and Jandowae.
The RACGP trains four out of every five rural GPs.
This year it has filled 114 training places in communities that have not had a GP registrar for several years.
RACGP Queensland chair Dr Cathryn Hester said that while this was great news, more work was needed to make sure every community could access the health care it needs.
“Meeting with local practices is essential for really understanding their needs and what will work best (in our training program),” she said.
“The Darling Downs and South Burnett are beautiful parts of our State, and it’s critical that governments invest today in training the future GP workforce to ensure these communities have a strong general practice workforce to meet their needs. Every person, and every community needs a GP.”
