Over 100 medical student grants have been announced, but many training bodies are calling for further reforms to seal the deal.
Amid widespread GP shortages, the federal government has unveiled funding for an extra 100 medical student places per year from 2026, with plans to expand to 150 new places per year by 2028.
In order to qualify for the extra places, universities will need to demonstrate a commitment to training more GPs.
Postgraduate GP training pathways are also set to see investment from medical school through prevocational training to specialist GP training.
The Medical Deans of Australia and New Zealand have welcomed the government initiative, citing that it shows the government realises “its commitment to increasing medical school places as part of its broader strategy to increase GP services for Australians”.
“This is an important step towards shaping the future healthcare and medical workforce we need in Australia,” Medical Deans president Professor Stuart Carney said.
“Providing opportunities for more students and prevocational doctors to learn about the breadth, skill and impact of GP care will have a major influence on future career choice.”
Professor Carney also expressed the importance of ensuring that new training places for prevocational doctors would not displace medical students from training in general practices.
The dean’s association also suggested reforms to the incentives for GPs to train students in practices.
The Australian Medical Students Association (AMSA) said that, whilst the grant was welcomed, it only addressed part of a much wider problem.
“A concern that we have with this package is that there simply aren’t enough training positions for these students once they decide to specialise, which includes general practice,” AMSA president Melody Ahfock told The Medical Republic.
“This package doesn’t really solve any of the problems with medical school accessibility, like something like an expansion of the Commonwealth prac payment would.
Related
“It is potentially further perpetuating bottlenecking in medical in the medical training pipeline.”
Other issues that AMSA identified with the current training pathways included the lack of compensation for GPs involved in training, which can lead to lower training standards.
Further expansions to the Commonwealth prac payment to provide further assistance to students in rural and regional areas was also suggested, given that rural-origin students are four times more likely to remain practicing in those areas.
“We’re wanting to see investment in other areas beyond just increasing medical student numbers,” Ms Ahfock said.
“The major problem with this strategy is that we’re increasing the amount of students entering medicine, but there simply are not enough training opportunities.
“We haven’t seen a proportionate increase in specialty training positions for these increases in medical student numbers, and that will contribute to bottlenecking.”
