Rural Australia has only 2.7 doctors per 1,000 people versus 4.3 in the cities, effectively creating a two-tier healthcare system in which the quality of specialist care you receive can be determined by your postcode.
We know that doctors with rural backgrounds or training experience are more likely to take up rural practice. So we developed a guide, in partnership with the National Rural Health Commissioner Professor Jenny May, to embed these factors into the trainee selection process. By adopting this approach, specialist medical colleges are taking practical steps to support the goal of providing equitable access to specialist care in rural and remote communities.
The problem is this initiative is only a partial solution – because if you select those rural trainees but train them in the city, it’s likely they will not return to country practice.
So, during my tenure as president and chair of CPMC, I proposed establishing a dozen or more multi-specialty rural training hubs across regional Australia. The Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) has pioneered this concept to train anaesthetists in regional Victoria. All other Colleges are keen to be part of the rural-regional training hubs.
By expanding the specialist workforce in regional areas, these hubs could strengthen rural and regional service capacity, improve access, and help reduce out-of-pocket costs for patients. Training in the regions also provides a significant learning opportunity, which should be highlighted and promoted. The concept is simple: recruit in the regions, train in the regions, and specialists will remain in the regions.
