The AMA Council of Rural Doctors Chair, Dr Marco Giuseppin, and the AMA Tasmania Vice President/GP Council Representative, Dr John Saul, spoke to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee Hearing on General practitioner and related primary health services to outer metropolitan, rural and regional Australians, on Thursday, 17 March 2022, in Emerald, Queensland.
Dr Giuseppin and Dr Saul provided testimonies and recommendations around GP shortages in outer metropolitan, rural and remote areas. Some of the recommendations to solve the GP shortage issue were:
A single employer model for general practice and rural generalist registrars
Ensuring funding arrangements provide adequate support for GPs in rural communities and revive interest in the specialty among young doctors
The expansion of community based prevocational training to allow young doctors to experience general practice in outer metropolitan and rural areas
Better distribution and allocation of medical school places.
Dr Giuseppin had also underlined the AMA position on opposing the pharmacy prescribing model to reduce GP shortages in the rural and remote areas as this model would cause fragmentation of care and pose a threat for patient safety.
You can read the AMA submission to Inquiry into provision of general practitioner and related primary health services to outer metropolitan, rural, and regional Australians here.
