The new General Practice Workforce Planning and Prioritisation Program is designed to help the GP workforce meet requirements in communities with a high need for GP services.
The Department of Health and Aged Care (DoHAC) has implemented the new General Practice Workforce Planning and Prioritisation (GP WPP) Program in response to the current and forecasted GP service shortfalls in some local and regional communities.
The GP WPP Program will support college-led general practice training by providing independent, regionally-based data and analysis to inform the distribution and placement of registrars training on the Australian General Practice Training (AGPT) Program. This initiative will also assist the transition of the AGPT activities to the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM).
The DoHAC will work with RACGP and ACRRM on how GP WPP advice will guide registrar distribution and enable success related to the location and distribution of training settings to be measured. In the future, the training colleges may create plans to build or improve the ability to train GPs in high-priority locations where registrars may not have been placed before.
The Role of Primary Health Networks
The Primary Health Networks (PHNs) in NSW and ACT have been selected by the DoHAC to undertake local stakeholder engagement across NSW and ACT. ACT’s PHN, Capital Health Network (CHN), is leading the NSW and ACT GP WPP consortium which is funded until the end of 2025.
The GP WPP consortium will undertake analyses and provide advice that will guide GP college selection and placement allocation processes. This involves stakeholder engagement at the jurisdictional and regional level to gain intelligence and test assumptions.
Consultation with Aboriginal Medical Services and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations in NSW and ACT will also be conducted as an essential part of informing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community needs within the prioritisation analysis.
Training Capacity in Western Sydney
As the Western Sydney Primary Health Network, we will provide advice and analysis on the training capacity in Western Sydney to assist the RACGP and ACCRM in matching registrars with suitable training placements and inform training capacity-building activities.
GPs and practice staff in Western Sydney were invited to complete our GP WPP Program survey to help us identify the current and future community needs for general practice services and ensure local insights are reflected in GP WPP advice.
This survey is now closed. Thank you to those who participated.
Data Framework
A Data Framework has been developed to support the GP WPP consortium to consider consistent factors when preparing their analysis and advice. The Data Framework incorporates quantitative and qualitative indicators and data sources influencing workforce needs and training capacity. The GP WPP consortium will work towards a nationally consistent approach utilising an agreed prioritisation methodology while ensuring appropriate localisation.
The framework will:
- Underpin the development of advice to the DoHAC and training colleges
- Guide GP WPP organisations in prioritising GP catchments into priority groupings for each jurisdiction, ranging from catchments most in need of services to catchments that have higher service supply
- Ensure national consistency, while being able to incorporate localised considerations
Key Deliverables
Following stakeholder engagement and consultation, the GP WPP team will provide the DoHAC with recommendations on:
- Workforce needs and placement prioritisation: Prioritising locations for registrar training to meet future community needs, based on workforce data, training data and local insight
- Training capacity: Determining available training capacity, including accreditation status, identification of at-risk training sites and evidence of any training capacity gaps
- The assessment of training pathways: Enabling registrars to complete all training within the regions, including advice on gaps that require registrars to rotate into other locations to complete registrar training
Frequently Asked Questions
The GP WPP Program will provide advice to inform future allocation and distribution of registrar placements. It will not mandate where placements will or must occur, and there will be no requirement for GP training colleges to immediately place registrars in every location that is found to have a high need for GP services. Training placements for registrars each semester will consider the priority of need within the training region, as well as supervisor and facility capacity in the location.
The DoHAC will work with the RACGP and ACRRM on how GP WPP advice will guide registrar distribution and enable success related to the location and distribution of training settings to be measured. These colleges may create plans in the future to build or improve training capacity in high-priority locations where registrars have not been placed.
Specific outcomes and data from the GP WPP Program will provide a better understanding of the training opportunities for GP registrars to complete their training in a single region as they progress through the medical pathway.
Data analyses conducted in PHN regions and GP catchments do not intend to create new proxy training boundaries. For 2023, training regions will not change. From 2024, the colleges will define their own regional training boundaries.
The GP WPP Program will help guide the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health components of the AGPT Program. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander GP Training Advisory Group was established to provide advice on this component of the program. The GP WPP Program supports these aspects of the AGPT Program, including stakeholder consultation on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander aspects of the prioritisation analysis, which will require further development as this work evolves.
Approximately $36 million per year is provided through the AGPT Program to support the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health components, including $27m per year allocated to the Salary Support Program. This will provide a subsidy to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health settings to offset the cost of the registrar’s salary.
As the Western Sydney Primary Health Network, we invite GPs and practice staff in Western Sydney to complete our GP WPP Program survey to help us identify the current and future community needs for general practice services.
This survey will close on 30 July 2023.
For more information about the opportunities to contribute, please contact the Western Sydney Primary Health Network GP WPP Program team at wswpp@wentwest.com.au or on 02 8811 7100.