The RACGP is offering $100,000 in grants to registrars who relocate to the top end for six months or more.
GP registrars can apply now to get up to $15,000 in exchange for completing a six-month placement in the Northern Territory, as the top end’s GP drought begins to bite.
The initiative, worth $100,000 in total, is open to all registrars who are considering a relocation in the first 2024 training term.
Trainees who relocate from another state or territory have the most to gain, with the possibility of receiving $10,000 to do a six-month placement anywhere in the NT and the opportunity to pocket an extra $5000 if that placement is in an MMM6-7 location.
Registrars who are already training in the Northern Territory can apply for a $5000 if they relocate from an MMM2 area to an MMM6-7 area for six months, and a further $5000 if they extend that commitment to 12 months.
Successful applicants will receive 50% of their grant money up front, followed by 25% six weeks after placement commences and the final 25% six weeks before placement finishes.
“We urgently need to increase the number of GPs, including GPs in training, in the Territory and to overcome the maldistribution of GPs in remote areas,” RACGP NT chair Dr Sam Heard said.
“These grants aim to do just that so that all patients, no matter their postcode, have strong access to high-quality general practice care.”
If the registrar quits after accepting the cash, they will be required to pay it back.
It comes just weeks after a primary healthcare workforce summit hosted in Alice Springs by assistant health ministers Malarndirri McCarthy and Ged Kearney and attended by the RACGP, ACRRM, NT Health and the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory.
Both colleges approached the meeting with a joint seven-point plan to increase the presence of GPs and GP registrars across the top end.
Key initiatives included in the plan were the reintroduction of tax relief for essential works in rural areas, as well as a scheme for registrars that would allow the portability of entitlements between placements.
“One of the challenges in attracting more junior doctors into general practice is that moving jobs means changing employer and losing employment entitlements and benefits, including parental leave and personal leave,” Dr Heard said at the time.
“A scheme that allows portability of entitlements would enable future doctors to move more freely between sectors.”
The colleges also agreed to recruit between five and 10 GPs-in-training to work in the NT from other states as part of the plan, which Dr Heard called an “ambitious target”.
Grant applications close on September 22, with successful registrars to be notified before the end of the month.
