Health Workforce Queensland in partnership with Rural Health Workforce Australia is pleased to provide rural and remote GPs with support through the Rural GP Locum Program. The Rural GP Locum Program is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. The program is a new Australian Government program which was announced in the May 2009 Federal Budget and launched December 21 2009.
What is the Rural GP Locum Program? The Rural GP Locum Program is designed to supply affordable, quality locum relief to rural and remote GPs. The Rural GP Locum Program has two elements. First the Rural GP Locum Program will recruit doctors who are willing to support their rural and remote colleagues by providing a locum service.
Becoming a Locum Under the Rural GP Locum Program The Rural GP Locum Program will form a national locum pool of doctors interested in supporting their rural and remote colleagues through provision of locum services.
Heatlh Workforce Queensland and the other state based Rural Workforce Agencies will help locums find placements that meet their needs. Locums will be engaged by rural and remote GPs directly. The Rural GP Locum Program will provide a subsidy to the GP host to help them fund the locum engagement.
To register to become part of the locum pool, a locum will have unconditional registration in any Australian State or Territory and be recognised as a GP for the purposes of the Medicare Benefits Schedule.
If you would like to register as a provider of locum relief, please complete the online Registration Form here
We will be in contact shortly to discuss your preferences and opportunities.
Applying for a Locum Under the Rural GP Locum Program The Rural GP Locum Program provides rural and remote GPs with access to locums and to a subsidy to offset the costs of engaging the locum. The Rural GP Locum Program is administered by Rural Health Workforce Australia in partnership with the Rural Workforce Agencies.
To be eligible to apply for a Rural GP Locum service, you need to be working as a GP in a rural or remote area (RA 2-5 location). Please note that locum availability is limited and therefore we will target rural and remote GPs in most need. To check the RA rural classification of your town use our search engine or visit www.doctorconnect.gov.au.
To apply for a locum under the Rural GP Locum Program click here.
What is the RGPLP Subsidy? The locum subsidy is paid by the Rural Workforce Agency to the GP host. The locum subsidy is available for each day the locum is paid to work in the host practice, up to 14 days to an individual GP host. The GP host may choose to have the locum subsidy as 14 continuous days or as a series of days up to 14 days. These days may be used at the discretion of the practice but are dependent on available coverage.
The RGPLP will provide the host GP with the following locum subsidies per financial year to offset the costs of engaging the locum:
$200 per day to a maximum of $400 per placement for locum travel time – this subsidy is passed on to the locum
50% of locum fees to a maximum of $500 per day for up to 14 days per host GP per financial year
In addition, a maximum of $2,000 per placement in RGPLP funding can be spent by the Rural Workforce Agency on travel to or from the locum assignment, per GP host, per financial year
The locum subsidy will be provided only to replace a GP who will be away from their practice. Locum placements are not available for vacancies or to provide additional workforce.
Please note: Subsidies are only payable once an evaluation has been completed and returned to the Rural Workforce Agency.
