Rural doctors are concerned at a decision by the Federal Government to cut funding to the Prevocational General Practice Placements Program (PGPPP) saying all the hard work that’s been done to develop this system to encourage trainee doctors into general practice will be wasted.
They say that the program has been very successful in getting more young doctors into general and rural practice and that cutting funding to it is a false economy.
Dr Ewan McPhee is a GP in Emerald as well as a medical educator and he says until this program came along young doctors didn’t really see General Practice as an attractive option – but now many see the merit in becoming a GP because of it.