General Practice Registrars Australia (GPRA) acknowledges the promising signs from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) General Practice: Health of the Nation 2024 report, but believes the report highlights areas of concern needing to be addressed to attract and retain GPs.

Since 2022 particularly, GPRA has been sounding the alarm with decision makers about the importance of investing in future GP peer initiatives to ensure medical students interested in general practice stay connected with the speciality throughout their medical education journey.

As the national peak body for future GPs, GPRA is committed to growing the future GP pipeline to improve health care across Australia, and administers Australia’s largest network of GP Clubs for medical students across 20 universities.  

GPRA President Dr Karyn Matterson said this year’s report highlighted several significant encouraging signs and issues of concern. 

“GPRA is pleased that interest in specialising as a rural generalist continues to increase,” Dr Matterson said. In 2023, 7 percent of medical students identified rural generalism as their preferred specialty, an increase from 5.8 per cent in 2022.

The number of doctors entering the Australian General Practice Training (AGPT) Program has also increased, from 1,130 in 2023 to 1,204 in 2024.

“It is pleasing that 44 per cent of doctors are recommending general practice as a career, an increase from 38 per cent last year,” said Dr Matterson.

“However, although the increase is encouraging, it is nowhere near the 2021 levels when 58 per cent of GPs recommended the profession to future doctors.”

Despite recommending general practice as a career, there is a persistent decline in medical students’ preference to specialise in general practice.

In 2023, only 10.5 per cent of medical students reported general practice as their preferred specialty of future practice, contrasting with 13 per cent in 2022, and 14.4 per cent in 2019.

“It’s time to listen to the solutions our future GPs – the medical students in the GP Clubs – have been putting forward to policy makers about what they believe will keep students interested and connected with general practice over the some 15 years it takes to produce a GP specialist,” said Dr Matterson.

“More needs to be done to ensure general practice is a viable career for junior doctors. We need to invest in the front end of a doctor’s career.

“This starts with an increase in funding to attract and retain doctors in general practice, beginning when they are medical students.”

GPRA has been actively proposing solutions to policy makers to address the barriers discouraging junior doctors from choosing general practice and to ensure equitable healthcare access for all Australians.

“We have asked the Government for funding to support two critical initiatives: GPRA’s Independent GP Registrar Employment Fund and the Future GP Peer Initiative,” said Dr Matterson.

GPRA is seeking increased funding to the General Practice Students Network (GPSN) to enable more medical students to participate in GP Clubs, a key component in fostering interest in general practice.

“The students’ network, with around 5,000 members across 20 universities, is the core of developing the GP workforce pipeline from the beginning of their careers,” Dr Matterson said.

“We have the foundational infrastructure in place via the national GP Club Network with some 5,000 students, but as this report indicates, it’s time to invest more in future GP initiatives and connect these interested students with GPs and their practices from university – this is what students are telling us.

“GPRA wants a more positive connection of medical students with the GP profession from their early years of medical training. Investment needs to happen across the entire student to GP Fellow pipeline journey.”

However, without additional funding GP registrars will continue to face disincentives to completing their GP Specialty, which ultimately means less GP access for communities.

“Government support will help grow the future GP pipeline, increase patient access to primary care for all Australians, and relieve pressure on Australia’s hospital system,” Dr Matterson concluded.

ENDS