Looming GP shortage sparks training boost

Behind the Rudd government announcement that it will spend $632 million on training 5000 new doctors lies lobbying from general practitioners warning there is a looming crisis in their area that needs urgent attention.

The government has committed to spending the money across 10 years to train 5500 GPs and 680 specialists, as well as paying for 5400 junior doctors taking part in general practice placements before gaining their final qualifications.

In its federal budget submission this year, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has told the government workforce shortages across the country are a big problem for the sector.

As an increasing population puts GPs under pressure, the supply of general practitioner numbers has fallen 2 per cent since 2002 while other medical specialist supply has risen 17 per cent. “This must be reversed as the change will increase health costs and worsen health outcomes,” the college says.

It predicts there will be a shortfall of up to 1500 places by 2012 in the pre-vocational training placements program that enables medical students and recent graduates to undertake three months’ work in general practice, part of the effort to encourage them to make general practice their career.

The college also warns Australia faces a significant problem because GPs are getting older.

The average age of vocationally recognised GPs is more than 50 years and it is essential their skills are harnessed before they retire, to train the next generation of doctors.

The college urges the government to take advantage of the record level of applications to participate in the GP training program, calling for the number of vocational training places to be lifted to 1500 a year by 2015.

It asks for a new look at overall training capacity, pointing out that with the doubling of medical student numbers and an increasing emphasis on community-based medicine, GPs will be required to teach substantially higher numbers of students, interns and registrars — often for longer periods — than in the past.

The college says there also is a growing expectation that other health professionals, such as nurses and health workers, should undertake some training in a general practice.

At present, only 2000 of the 6300 general practices across Australia are accredited for training. This leaves considerable potential to increase training capacity.

The Australian General Practice Network, representing 110 GP networks in Australia as well as eight state-based entities, also has called on the government in its budget submission to allocate $10.2m across three years to increased clinical training placements in the sector. It also wants $18m spent across three years on training nurses to work in general practice.

The AGPN says in its submission that while 60 per cent of general practices in Australia employ at least one nurse — an increase from 45 per cent seven years ago — there are still many practices without a nurse that will employ one if “the right levers are put in place”.

The network says many GPs will employ a nurse if they can access the incentive program and it wants the incentive payment made available to all practices.

The second key incentive will be to educate more practices on the value of employing a nurse. The AGPN says a survey has shown 28 per cent of practices include “do not know the value of a practice nurse” among their reasons for not employing one.