Our work related to medical and health students and trainees

Learn how this program helps organisations trial new ways of providing primary care in rural and remote communities.

As part of the 2021-22 Budget, the Australian Government announced the new John Flynn Prevocational Doctor Program. This program will better streamline and coordinate medical training in regions and fund new rural primary care rotations to boost training capacity for the next generation of doctors.

The Junior Doctor Training Program (JDTP) supports education and supervision for junior doctors in rural primary health care settings and private hospitals. This helps provide a continued supply of doctors to deliver health services across Australia. It is part of our Stronger Rural Health Strategy.

The Medical Rural Bonded Scholarship Scheme has closed to new applicants. Existing participants can either continue with this scheme or opt in to the more flexible Bonded Medical Program.

This program has closed to new applicants. The program provided support and training towards joining a college fellowship for doctors who are temporary or permanent residents of Australia and non vocationally recognised.

The Murray–Darling Medical Schools Network establishes 5 rurally based university medical school programs in New South Wales and Victoria. Medical students can stay rural while they study medicine. This is part of the Stronger Rural Health Strategy initiative.

We are working with state and territory governments to develop a National Allied Health Workforce Strategy. The strategy will address issues such as the shortage of allied health professionals in Australia.

The National Consistent Payments (NCP) framework provides support payments to supervisors, practices and registrars on the Australian General Practice Training (AGPT) program.

The National Maternity Workforce Strategy 2026–2036 aims to strengthen Australia’s maternity workforce by focusing on recruitment, retention, and culturally safe services nationwide.

We have developed this 10-year strategy to guide long-term medical workforce planning across Australia. It will improve access to health care by supporting the right people to have the right skills, where we need them most.

We developed the National Mental Health Workforce Strategy to give a high-level vision and roadmap to build a sustainable mental health workforce.

The National Nursing Workforce Strategy will establish priorities to guide the nursing workforce now and into the future. It will help address workforce challenges, foster collaboration and drive action among stakeholders in shaping the future of workforce planning, investment and reform.

State and territory governments established the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (NRAS) for health practitioners in 2010 by introducing consistent legislation in all jurisdictions. While NRAS is not an Australian Government scheme, it affects the health workforce across the country.

The National Rural Generalist Pathway is a dedicated medical training pathway to attract, retain and support rural generalist doctors.

The Non-VR FSP supports doctors to gain their fellowship. This increases access to high-quality primary health care and enables doctors to register as specialist general practitioner and access higher Medicare rebates.

The Other Medical Practitioner (OMPs) programs provide access to higher Medicare rebates for doctors without fellowship who deliver services in approved locations and meet eligibility requirements.

The PCC4U program promotes the inclusion of palliative care education as part of all medical, nursing, and allied health undergraduate and entry to practice training, as well as their ongoing professional development.

This program helps non-vocationally registered doctors gain valuable general practice experience in Distribution Priority Areas before they join a College-led general practitioner (GP) training pathway.

Find out how this program helps rural and remote communities work out their primary care needs and design health care that works for them.

Australia’s 31 Primary Health Networks (PHNs) are independent organisations working to streamline health services – particularly for those at risk of poor health outcomes – and to better coordinate care so people receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time.

The PEPA program is part of the Palliative Care Education and Training Collaborative and helps health professionals to deliver palliative care by providing training in clinical placements in specialist palliative care services and interactive workshops.

Health ministers in Australia asked the National Health Practitioner Ombudsman to review the process for accrediting specialist medical college training sites. Learn more about the resulting reform that’s in progress.

The Remote Vocational Training Scheme delivers structured distance education and supervision to doctors while they provide general medical services in a remote or isolated community. The 4-year program meets the requirements for fellowship of both ACRRM and RACGP.

The RHMT program offers health students the opportunity to train in rural and remote communities via a network of training facilities. It aims to improve the recruitment and retention of medical, nursing, dental and allied health professionals in rural and remote Australia.