News
3 June, 2025
Paging rural doctors
THE State Government has announced a major multimillion-dollar incentive program to support and strengthen general practice in Queensland throughout 2025, particularly in rural and remote areas.
This comes after extensive reporting by The Sentinel on the lack of available doctors on site at the Kilcoy Hospital after hours and on weekends.
The $24 million General Practice Trainee Incentive is providing eligible doctors starting their GP training in Queensland in 2025 with a substantial one-off payment of $40,000.
More than 575 doctors who have either commenced or are soon to begin their general practice training in 2025 are expected to be eligible for the one-off payment.
This financial support is in recognition of the challenges future GPs face when they start to enter the workforce and encourages them to continue their training.
Member for Nanango, Deb Frecklington, said this incentive is a “strategic move” to attract and retain medical professionals in general practice, “particularly in regional and rural areas like Somerset where healthcare access has been a longstanding challenge”.
“The Government is listening and is actively recruiting more doctors, nurses, and paramedics, ensuring that all Queenslanders have improved access to health services, regardless of their location,” she said.
Minister for Health and Ambulance Services, Tim Nicholls, said the Government is pleased to provide assistance for Queensland’s future GPs.
“We are doing what we can to help doctors complete their GP training because we know how important GPs are to communities across Queensland,” he said.
The State will work with the two medical Colleges who deliver GP training - the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) - to implement this important initiative.
RACGP chair Dr Cath Hester said the Government’s decision to fund the incentive showed a commitment to improving access to specialist general practice care across Queensland.
“Specialist GPs and our practice teams keep patients out of hospital and relieve pressure on our entire healthcare system,” Dr Hester said.
“The General Practice Trainee Incentive removes a significant barrier to junior doctors choosing to train as specialist GPs and providing care in the community.”
ACRRM President Dr Rod Martin said the commitment is a welcome acknowledgement of the critical role that GPs and Rural Generalists play in delivering primary and preventative healthcare services as well as the treatment of chronic disease and keeping people out of hospital.
“ACRRM’s primary goal is to provide access to high quality continuous medical care that is close to home for people living outside the urban footprint,” he said.
“To do that we need to attract the right people to choose a rural medical career, and we need to support them with funding to enable them to focus on skills development rather than financial burden.
“Not only do our registrars need access to funding for their training program, but they also experience higher costs working and living in rural and remote communities.
Dr Martin said the ACRRM looks forward to continuing to work with governments at all levels to develop solutions that “recognise and incentivise” retention of highly skilled rural GPs and RGs “who provide the high quality access to services that rural, remote and First Nations communities need and deserve”.
Australian Medical Association Queensland President, Dr Nick Yim, said it was important to advocate for more GP services outside of South East Queensland.
“We need to support these doctors to work in our regional and rural areas to care for those communities who are in desperate need of increased primary care access,” he said.
“We look forward to seeing this, and other initiatives AMA Queensland has advocated for, funded in the upcoming state budget.”
Dr Yim said primary healthcare is historically funded by the federal government, and funding reform is needed at that level to support longer, more complex consultations.
