Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor has welcomed the Federal Government’s improvements to the GP Rural Incentives Program (GPRIP) to take effect from next week.

Mr Taylor said a number of towns in Hume were now re-classified as MM4 or MM5 under a new system known as the Modified Monash Model (developed by Monash University) making GPs eligible for higher incentive payments if they practise in a rural area for a minimum two years.

“GPs who practise in Crookwell will now receive an annual incentive payment of $23,000 if they work for five years locally, (an increase of $11,000 from the previous system) and $23,000 every year after, that they continue to practise locally. The incentive payments start after two years of local practice and build up from $12,000 to $23,000. The increased incentive is recognition that rural GPs often have extra duties, need a broad range of additional skills and need to manage on call and after hours work.”

Mr Taylor said better medical and health care in rural communities was not just about GP numbers. “It’s also about patients being able to access a range of services. We are continuing to work on broader systems of care incorporating trainee doctors, skilled doctors and visiting specialists, but attracting more GPs and keeping GPs for longer who are already working in rural towns is a vital piece of the puzzle,” he said.

Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash said some $50 million in GP incentive payments was being redirected to smaller towns from 14 large regional cities (with a population of more than 50,000).

“It makes a lot more sense to use that money to attract doctors to areas with the greatest GP shortages. This makes the previous Labor Government’s system a lot fairer.”

Rural Doctors Association (RDA) NSW Secretary, Dr Dave Richmond, said the RDA was keen to ensure all savings from the change to a new classification system were reinvested into rural practice.

“The new GPRIP is a positive reinforcement for GPs working in isolated and smaller communities and recognises that doctors who are in remote areas have to deliver more complex medicine with less resources,” Dr Richmond said.