The Rural Doctors Association of South Australia has welcomed the state and federal government's announcement this morning of a single employer model for GP and rural generalist registrars.
The SEM will support up to 60 additional GP and rural generalist registrars training in the community at any one time - potentially quadrupling the state's existing cohort as the program scales up over time.
Under the program, GP and rural generalist registrars will have the option of being employed by the South Australian Health Service as salaried employees.
This would allow them to have a single employer while placed in GP practices in rural and regional locations across the state, instead of having to change employers every six or 12 months with each new placement.
RDASA treasurer Scott Lewis, Strathalbyn, said the SEM was something the association had been agitating for for a long time.
"We recognised a long time ago that the loss of annual leave entitlements or loss of parental leave entitlements was one of those things that has been a real disincentive for some junior doctors to go into GP training in general rural based training," he said.
"Australia wide, the rural doctors associations have been agitating for a single employer model and it's an extremely positive thing to see it being bought in in South Australia.
"The big thing about it is doctors leaving the hospital system to undertake their rural based training will no longer lose the entitlements.
"Particularly for female doctors who lose parental leave entitlements, the ability to retain those is going to be really really important in terms of rural training and replacements being attractive, so this will be a real positive for developing the rural workforce and developing the ability to train rural doctors in rural areas."
Dr Lewis said the best way to develop a good recruitment pipeline was to train doctors in rural areas from the start of their training until the end and structures like the SEM would allow them to do that.
"There's a lot of things happening at the moment in the rural training space," he said.
"We're continuing to develop the rural generalist training pathways which will ensure training opportunities are available in rural areas that's been in the works for a few years now and it's developing really, really well.
"We are seeing a lot of very, very positive things happening in rural South Australia in medical training and medical workforce that hopefully in the very near future will start to pay dividends."
The program will cover five regional and rural Local Health Networks (LHNs) in Barossa Hills and Fleurieu, Eyre and Far North, Flinders and Upper North, Yorke and Northern, and Limestone Coast.
This new trial is in addition to the success of the Riverland Academy of Clinical Excellence in the Riverland Mallee Coorong Local Health Network, which commenced in 2022 and supports up to 20 rural generalist trainees at a time.
Today there are more than 30 Australian-trained RACE trainees at various stages of their medical careers, with a retention rate of more than 98 per cent.
Federal Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler said we want to attract more doctors to regional South Australia and this innovative approach will help to retain the doctors we need to continue to provide essential primary healthcare services to South Australians.
"We look forward to working collaboratively with the Malinauskas Government to make training and working in rural general practice a more attractive option for young doctors," he said.
"Importantly, it will make it easier for people in regional South Australia to see a doctor close to home."
SA Minister for Health and Wellbeing Chris Picton we have seen how successful the SEM has been in the Riverland for the past two years, increasing the medical workforce by more than 25 per cent in the region.
"I am thrilled this is now rolling out across the rest of South Australia and supporting up to 80 GP and rural generalist registrars training in the community," he said.
"South Australians deserve access to quality health care no matter where they live, and having more doctors in the country is another step towards achieving this."
The new trial is part of an SEM expansion announced in the October 2022 and May 2023 Federal Budgets.
Trials will run until 2028.