Coordinating rural divisions:The workforce window

Abstract

Divisions of General Practice have been established to alleviate the professionalisolation which general practitioners face by being excluded from involvement in otherparts of the health care system. Divisions facilitate the development of localcommunication networks and cooperative activities which improve the integrationof general practice with other elements of the health system.Coordination of communication is one of the strengths of divisions at the local leveland Rural Divisions Co-ordinating Units at the State level. This strength is beingeffectively utilised to target general practice workforce issues. Given the significantproportion of general practitioners in the medical workforce, particularly in rural andremote areas, this has implications for broader medical workforce issues.Australia faces a maldistribution in its general practitioner workforce, with an excesssupply in urban areas and a significant shortfall in rural and remote areas. Since1995?96, the General Practice Rural Incentives Program, which targets therecruitment and retention of rural doctors, has devolved funding to the RuralDivisions Co-ordinating Units to coordinate the statewide provision of practicalassistance to rural general practitioners, through their divisions, in relation tocontinuing medical education and the provision of locums. There is potential to buildon the successes of these initiatives and also to work with urban divisions through thestate-based organisational structures which are currently being developed.