James Cook University’s proposal to expand medicine course to Cairns, Mackay

A GP educator says its latest enrolment figures are a “cause for optimism”, while a Far Northern educator has proposed a strategy to help the region’s under pressure doctors.

A FAR Northern tertiary education provider is awaiting feedback on a proposal it believes will drastically bring reprieve to the region’s GP shortage.

James Cook University which graduates about 150 medical students each year has put a submission to the Federal Government, asking for an additional 80 medical placements.

Dean of the College of Medicine and Dentistry at JCU, professor Richard Murray said the additional placements would allow the educator to expand its medicine course to a full program at its Cairns and Mackay campuses.

He said simply put “more students means more of a chance of filling GP vacancies.”

“Before Covid (Australia) was bringing in about 3000 overseas trained doctors to fill the gaps in the regions,” Prof Murray said.

Medical students Lachlan Joyce, Nathan Kendal, Matt Mo and Grace Gough at the JCU Clinical School onsite at the Cairns Hospital Picture: Emily Barker.

“That’s unacceptable, that gap really should be something we’re looking to train and produce here.”

However, the nation’s major GP training facilitator which will take over JCU’s post-grad program from 2023 was also seeing a decline in general practice students.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners rural chair Dr Michael Clements said Australian medical schools were graduating record numbers of doctors; however, the reality was that not enough of them were opting for general practice.

“However, there is cause for optimism. The 2021 intake of the Australian General Practice Training Program saw the highest number of applicants since 2017 and I am confident that once future doctors experience how rewarding life as a GP can be they will want to sign up. To make that happen, we can’t just sit on our hands and wait, we must be proactive.

JCU 6th Year medical student Kane Langdon originally from Gladstone is looking forward to practising in the Cairns region. Picture: Emily Barker.

“I also believe that medical schools could do more to encourage students to pursue an interest in general practice, in particular rural placements. One potential solution involves preferentially selecting from rural areas and increasing the amount of time spent training in those communities.

“From 2023, general practice will return to the RACGP, where it belongs. This provides us with an opportunity to explore innovative ways to address general practice workforce challenges. Our proposed model will unite the functions of existing training organisations under the one umbrella to deliver a consistent training experience that will place future GPs where they are most needed, including in Far North Queensland.”

Originally published as James Cook University’s proposal to expand medicine course to Cairns, Mackay