There’s been a 30% rise in the number of international medical graduates approved to work in Australia over the last year, and AHPRA is just getting started. But the RACGP has its doubts.
International medical graduate registrations are up and assessment times are down under a streamlined AHPRA protocol – but an even leaner registration process is still on the way.
New figures released by the regulator show a 27% increase in the number of overseas-trained doctors approved to work in Australia over the 2023-24 financial year compared to the 2022-23 year.
In real terms, it represents about 1200 more doctors in the country.
At the same time, there was a 26% decrease in the time taken to process international doctor applications, which amounts to a wait time reduction of 23 days.
AHPRA largely credited the improvements to dropping a requirement for candidates to do an in-person identity check.
This normally required the overseas trained doctor to physically travel to Australia before being registered.
Since December last year, applicants have been able to provide their identity documents “while offshore” and presented further evidence of their identity when they renew their registration for the first time.
The new data comes just as AHPRA prepares for another big change to its systems, with the introduction of a new fast-track registration pathway still slated for October.
The fast-track system itself has been fast-tracked, having only been announced in April.
Key stakeholders had just one month to write submissions for a consultation on the reforms after the usual timeframe was compressed to meet demands from the health ministers.
Under the new registration system, doctors with specific overseas qualifications will automatically grant them specialist registration status in Australia.
This process effectively cuts out the step where medical colleges assess a candidate, meaning that fellowship of an Australian college will not be an automatic outcome of the expedited pathway.
“For those doctors who are currently in the process of migrating, we should be doing everything possible to get them into clinical practice as soon as it is safe,” former chief medical officer Professor Brendan Murphy told the medical board earlier this year.
RACGP president Dr Nicole Higgins told The Medical Republic that the college still had not seen the details of how it will work and what qualifications will be deemed substantially similar.
“This is a political decision [being applied to] general practice,” she said.
“It’s not one that’s based on evidence and it’s being driven by state health ministers who have legislative powers over regulation and accreditation.”
While it will expand to cover more specialties over time, the new registration system will initially open to overseas-trained GPs.
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The irony to this is that, unlike some other specialist colleges, both ACRRM and the RACGP tend to be compliant when it comes to meeting benchmark timeframes.
“We are getting bums on seats quickly and making sure that these doctors are supported around the MBS and the PBS and around context of rural health and Australian system, as well as cultural support to understand Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture,” Dr Higgins said.
“Our concern is that by uncoupling these doctors from fellowship to a medical college, that they will not have the wraparound support that’s provided by their peers in the college.”
Dr Higgins admitted that she might be cynical, but said the whole situation smacked of politicians wanting to “look good before an election”.
