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GP Workforce Working Group gather in Toowoomba
February 28, 2025
This month, the GP Workforce Working Group met in Toowoomba to review the implementation of the GP Regional Workforce Collective Impact Plan.
The Collective Impact Plan was developed by the Darling Downs and West Moreton GP Workforce Working Group to deliver a comprehensive roadmap for addressing the identified needs in the region regarding the GP workforce.
The region contains many regional and remote areas that struggle to retain GPs. These chronic shortages and high burnout rates impede access to quality primary care, especially in rural areas.
Rural and regional general practice and primary care career pathways are not seen as a career of choice for those entering the healthcare workforce, and as such, the PHN is leading a multisectoral approach by developing and implementing a joint, cross sector, coordinated, regional response.
The GP Workforce Working Group was assembled by the PHN as a collective of multidisciplinary regional stakeholders who developed the report for the Department of Health and Aged Care’s General Practice Workforce Planning and Prioritisation program.
Significant progress has already been delivered since the inception of the plan, including:
- Establishing a GP Workforce Advisor Program in the Darling Downs and West Moreton Health Services to help junior doctors chart a GP career pathway.
- Introducing general practice as a career during Years 9 & 10 in collaboration with Rural Med Ed Australia’s Aspire2Health Program.
- Ongoing engagement with the Rural Clinical School – South West Medical Pathway that aims to ‘grow our own’ workforce through medical student training and placements in rural and regional parts of Queensland.
- Implementing Allied Health Workforce Development Grants.
- Hosting workforce-themed Allied Health Networking Events in Darling Downs and West Moreton supported by CheckUP and Health Workforce Queensland.
The GP Workforce Working Group is continuing to meet in 2025 to progress the plan and address the challenges regarding attraction and retention of GPs in the region.
