A medical training provider says South Australia’s regional communities will benefit from an increase in GP training places.
Sturt Fleurieu GP Education and Training places registered doctors in the southern parts of the state, including the Riverland, Barossa and south-east.
It will offer 75 GP training placements from next year – up from about 50 this year.
Chief executive Bruce Mugford says it is still determining where the new positions will be.
“It’s a case of going back to the practices, just assessing them and what their capacity is, what level of registrar they take, so sometimes they take more junior registrars, sometimes they only have capacity for more senior registrars,” he said.
“So we undertake a scoping study and from there, we determine where the registrars are going to go.”
Dr Mugford says it is particularly good news, on the back of federal funding cuts to other GP training programs.
“You know the good news is that the program has grown again, so that’s a good commitment for that but of course it’s up to the Government to now honour that commitment and ensure that the funds are there for the future to train the doctors,” he said.