The Department of Education has published a discussion paper on the establishment of a 60-strong pool of medical Commonwealth-supported places (CSPs) in Australian universities.
In a statement, the Department said the CSPs would be drawn from existing university allocations every three years and be redistributed between universities to support key health workforce priorities.
The Department said the first round for 2021 would focus on helping to build the rural and regional medical workforce.
“The discussion paper invites stakeholder comments on the establishment and implementation of the redistribution pool,” the Department said.
“The paper also invites input to help develop specific policy parameters for the rollout of the redistribution process over successive triennial periods.”
It said the initiative was part of new medical education strategies to better manage the supply of medical graduates.
“Together with workforce measures through the Stronger Rural Health Strategy in the Health portfolio, these strategies will help improve the recruitment and retention of doctors in rural and regional Australia and increase access to medical and health care in these communities,” the Department said.
“The medical workforce is expanding, with the Department of Health national modelling predicting a potential over-supply of around 7,000 doctors by 2030; a shortage of medical specialist training places; and an imbalance in the distribution of the medical workforce across geography and specialties.”
The 23-page discussion paper can be accessed at this PS News link.
