Time to pop the bubbly.
Australia’s rural generalists can finally apply to have the specialty listed on their AHPRA registration, as the decades-long march to specialty-dom reaches what is arguably the biggest milestone on its journey.
All doctors who have achieved either FACRRM or FRACGP-RG can now apply with AHPRA to have their rural generalism qualification officially recognised when they complete their general registration for the year ahead.
Rural generalism was given the nod to become general practice’s first subspecialty field in September last year, but it took until last month for the medical board to approve the ACRRM and RACGP rural training programs as valid pathways.
It then took an additional month of t-crossing and i-dotting for AHPRA to open it up as a registerable subspecialty.
AHPRA has done so as of 1 September, coinciding with the annual registration renewal period for Australia’s doctors.
ACRRM president Dr Rod Martin was working late on the evening of August 31 when he received a pre-set reminder to renew his registration.
“I went through [the registration portal] the first time and I thought, ‘oh [no], it’s a bit before [and I am too early] – and then I’ve gone on, and there it is,” he told The Medical Republic.
“It’s the newest one, so it’s sitting there right down the bottom of the list.”
Dr Martin said the process of applying for subspecialist rural generalist recognition would be “pretty simple” for doctors who were awarded an ACRRM fellowship in 2007 or later.
“Basically, what I did was put the date of my certificate on the into the system, and that goes through to ACRRM, then they go back through it and verify it,” Dr Martin said.
“That part of it should be very simple and straightforward.
“For people [who fellowed] before 2007 … we’re trying to work on the numbers to work out how many of those people there are that are still in active practice, then [we can iron out] the process for them.
“Not everyone has to apply to go on the register. For some people, for how they do their job day to day, [rural generalist recognition] doesn’t make any difference.
“But for some people, there’s a sense of pride about being able to say I’ve been working as a rural generalist for 30 years. I can finally say that I’m a specialist rural generalist.”
Rural Doctors Association of Australia president Dr Sarah Chalmers, a past ACRRM president herself, told TMR she had filled out her registration application at 6pm on Tuesday night.
“It felt amazing,” she said.
Dr Chalmers said RDAA was encouraging all rural generalists across the country to sign up for their subspecialist recognition.
“We have gone through this hugely complex process, which was really to say, ‘is this an important contribution to medicine in Australia?’, and to have that be signed off as ‘yes’ – and then to actually get the opportunity for the full AHPRA endorsement – I know it’s another step in the process, but this one feels you know like the like the recognition is real,” the Northern Territory-based rural generalist said.
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On a practical level, the work and career opportunities for newly endorsed rural generalist subspecialists will remain largely unchanged.
But going forward, RACGP rural chair Associate Professor Michael Clements told TMR, the qualification would become an important marker for recruiters.
“If people are applying for a new job within a state government health service or locuming from now on, it is likely that the credentialing committees and the employers will start wanting to see this [subspecialty registration],” he told TMR.
“They’ll probably still employ you even if it’s not there. But it’s one of those … signals which gives the recruiter and the state government that trigger that they need to verify that they’ve met that status.
“We are not expecting to see any pay cuts if people don’t get registered. Generally speaking, we’ve been advised [by] the state governments … [that] people who have been paid as RGs up till now should continue to expect the same pay scale.”
Work continued, he said, on access to new MBS rebates for qualified rural generalists working in a hospital setting.
From 29 March 2027, rural generalist will become a protected title under national law. After that date, only doctors with the subspecialist recognition on their registration can call themselves rural generalists.
