John Flynn Prevocational Doctor Program 

About the JFPDP

The JFPDP commenced on 1 January 2023 and is administered by the Governments of the States and the Northern Territory. The program delivers primary care rotations for eligible hospital-based prevocational and junior doctors in regional, rural and remote areas. Hospitals partner with primary care settings to provide eligible doctors with general practice experience through a clinical training term (rotation) in a primary care setting. The JFPDP is expanding, with an increase in rural primary care rotations from 500 rotations in 2023, to 1,000 rotations per year by 2026.

JFPDP

The JFPDP will:

• Provide rural general practice experience for prevocational and junior doctors by delivering rotations in regional, rural and remote primary care settings. 
• Build prevocational doctors’ confidence, exposure, and interest in rural general practice and rural generalism.
• Reduce impacts on rural acute care services by growing the general practice workforce in regional, rural and remote areas.
• Increase recruitment and retention of medical graduates and prevocational doctors in rural general practice and rural generalism through a greater uptake of general practice fellowship programs, particularly the Australian General Practice Training Program.
• Prioritise areas of high need including those that support the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce and service delivery.
• Strengthen the training pathway for general practice and rural generalism through increased medical training capacity and training networks, including rural general practices operating as vertically integrated teaching units.
• Address a critical component of the National Rural Generalist Pathway and the broader National Medical Workforce Strategy.

Why it is important

Evidence shows that positive exposure to general practice for junior doctors encourages them to choose general practice career pathways.

Evidence also shows doctors who train in rural and remote regions are more likely to remain there to live and work. This is why the Australian Government continues to invest in building the rural training pipeline. 

Through the JFPDP, communities benefit from increased access to health services and a more stable, locally trained workforce.

Eligibility

Postgraduate doctors who are engaged in the Australian health care system and hold a medical degree recognised by the Australian Medical Council and current registration with the Medical Board of Australia are eligible to apply.

Doctors accepted into any specialty vocational pathway may undertake a JFPDP rotation, up until the time they begin that vocational training pathway. Prevocational doctors on their state or territory’s rural generalist pathway are encouraged to undertake a JFPFP rotation during their prevocational training period.

Rotations funded under the JFPDP must be a full term in the location the placement is being delivered, and take place in a Modified Monash Model (MMM) 2-7 location in a:

• General practice.
• Aboriginal Medical Service (AMS)
• Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (ACCHO)
• Other community primary care setting.

Entities releasing prevocational doctors to participate in the JFPDP can be in any MMM location.

Australian Primary Care Prevocational Program

On 23 February 2025, the Australian Government announced the Strengthening Medicare: more bulk billing, more doctors and more nurses package, which includes extra primary care rotations in metropolitan (MM1) locations for prevocational doctors under a new Australian Primary Care Prevocational Program (APCPP).

From 1 January 2026, the JFPDP will be incorporated into the new Australian Primary Care Prevocational Program (APCPP, which will include two streams:

• APCPP - Rural (the existing JFPDP)
• APCPP – Metro.

Goals

The APCPP will support training rotations for prevocational doctors to gain experience in general practice primary care settings in both rural and metropolitan locations to build the general practice workforce. It will encourage doctors to rotate out of hospital settings and work in general practice. It will support doctors to gain experience and opt for careers in areas of community need, such as regional and rural locations, and outer metropolitan general practice.

Meeting our goals

The program will meet its goals in several ways:

• Patients in rural, regional, remote and outer metropolitan areas will have access to a larger, more stable locally trained primary care workforce.
• The program will increase the number of prevocational doctors choosing general practice, rural general practice or rural generalist vocational training and careers.
• The APCPP will support health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by prioritising rotations in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander primary care settings, including Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations.  Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander doctors will also be a priority for prevocational rotations.

APCPP – Rural (the current JFPDP) 

• Supports prevocational primary care rotations in MMM 2-7 regions.
• It will increase rural primary care rotations for junior and other prevocational hospital-based doctors from 440 rotations (110 full-time equivalent) in 2022 to 1,000 rotations (250 full-time equivalent) in 2026. 

Who we work with

We will work with State and Territory Governments, public hospitals, primary care settings, and workforce and training agencies to deliver the JFPDP and APCPP.