Workforce Planning and Prioritisation Project (WPPP)

Some communities in the ACT and NSW currently, or are predicted to, experience GP service shortfalls, due to changes in community needs or workforce shortages.

The GP colleges (RACGP and ACRRM) are now responsible for allocating GP registrar training placements to meet distribution objectives and registrar training needs. Led by the ACT PHN (Capital Health Network), the ACT/NSW WPP Consortium consists of the ACT and NSW PHNs.

The national General Practice Workforce Planning and Prioritisation Program (WPPP) will provide independent, evidence-based advice, to inform the geographic distribution and placement of GP registrars to meet the community’s current and future GP workforce needs. It will:

• Support the transition to college-led General Practice Training by providing robust, independent, evidence-based advice to the DoHAC and GP colleges to inform the distribution and placement of registrars training on the program.
• Provide advice on GP training capacity and pathways to support and encourage registrars to establish a home in a region, settle there and complete training within that region.

Intended outcomes include.

• A well distributed GP workforce to service all Australian communities now and in the future.
• Greater visibility of GP training opportunities to support GP registrars to complete their training in a single region as they progress through the medical pathway.

Key deliverables include.

• Workforce Needs & Training Capacity Report
• Training Pathways Report
• Stakeholder forums and Communities of Practice

Prioritisation involved understanding:

• where the community need is,
• where there is current workforce,
• practice infrastructure for quality training, and
• the liveability of communities where Registrars might be inclined to stay longer-term.

The Baseline Report included insights from a quantitative prioritisation assessment and qualitative validation to identify areas of highest community need where training capacity could be enhanced.

Report Two aims to undertake further qualitative inputs to inform the prioritisation process, with the aim of incorporating localised nuance within the five data dimensions. The 5 Dimensions are:

1. Population and community characteristics
2. Health service access
3. Registrar characteristics
4. Practice and supervision characteristics
5. Lifestyle factors