Medical
General
Ministerial Review of Victorian Public Health
Medical Staff
Medical Workforce Report
Strengthening Medical Specialist Training Program - 2008
Planning for growth in the Victorian medical workforce
Recruitment initiatives
Recruitment of international health care professionals to Victoria - strategic directions 2007-10
Rural Clinical Schools
Advanced Procedural Skills for GPs
Extended Skills for GPs
Overseas trained doctors for hospital practice
Other initiatives
Rural Workforce Agency Victoria
Prevocational General Practice Placements Program (PGPPP)
Doctor Connect Website
General
Ministerial Review of Victorian Public Health Medical Staff
Ministerial Review of Victorian Public Health Medical Staff
- Report of the Review Panel (2007) (PDF file 906KB)
Initial response to the Ministerial Review of Victorian Public
Health Medical Staff (2008) (PDF file 64KB)
Medical Workforce Report
This report has been developed to augment the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's national Medical Labour Force reports by providing more detailed and specific information about the medical workforce in Victoria. This report incorporates data from surveys from 2000 to 2004 to enable analysis of change over time.
The Medical Workforce of Victoria 2000–2004 (2006) (PDF file 3,085KB)
Strengthening Medical Specialist Training Program - 2008
The 2008 Strengthening Medical Specialist Training program has been developed to increase medical specialist training positions in Victorian public hospitals.
The program aims to:
- Identify shortages or oversupply in specialist training positions
- Map current service delivery against training capacity through the Specialist Training Annual Growth (STAG) model
- Provide flexible funding options to support growth identified through WEIS, to address demonstrated workforce shortage and maldistribution and to undertake research.
This program incorporates the existing Advance Specialists Training Posts in Regional Australia (ASTPRA). Together with the Commonwealth, the Victorian Government is funding positions at major rural centres for doctors who are training to be medical specialists.
2008 Strengthening Medical Specialist Training program information sheet (pdf, 88k)
For more information please contact medical.specialists@dhs.vic.gov.au
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In 2006, the Commonwealth government announced an additional 220 undergraduate medical places for Victoria.
The Commonwealth government also, in 2007, removed the 25 per cent cap on the number of domestic undergraduate full fee paying students that can enter medical studies.
As a result of these changes, the number of medical intern positions required by domestic graduates of Victorian medical schools is predicted to jump from 348 in 2008 to as many as 690 in 2012. Demand for postgraduate year two (PGY2) and specialist training places will also increase in the future.
In response, the 2008–09 State Budget includes funding of $55.15 million over four years to support the increased numbers of students. This includes additional capital investment in teaching infrastructure ($20.02 million over two years) as well as further early graduate places to train up to 211 additional doctors per year by 2012 to meet future workforce challenges ($35.13 million over four years).
The growth in training positions will be staged over four years to build system capacity and ensure that service viability and the quality of clinical education are maintained. As the first stage of this growth, in 2009 there will be a total of 45 new funded medical intern positions and 16 PGY2 positions available for distribution.
Further information on this matter can be found in the document, Planning for growth in the
Victorian medical workforce - June 2008 (PDF file 127KB)
Recruitment initiatives
Recruitment of international health care professionals to Victoria
- strategic directions 2007-10
In March 2007, the Victorian Government launched the Health careers for a healthy future campaign. As part of this campaign the Department of Human Services has developed the Recruitment of international health care professionals to Victoria – strategic directions 2007-10 package.
The package includes information about:
- incentive packages for international medical graduates (IMGs) and allied health professionals (AHPs)
- scholarships to support international nurse graduates to meet Victorian registration requirements
- a research project looking at the barriers to recruitment of IMGs to Victoria
- the opportunity for hospitals to advertise medical vacancies in the British Medical Journal at no cost
- Region of Choice initiative for AHPs
- retention of specialist recruitment firm to screen unsolicited curriculum vitae from IMGs and assist with recruitment of senior specialist staff for hospitals
- Cultural Diversity Education Program for overseas trained nurses.
Further information for international health care professionals:
Recruitment of international health care professionals to Victoria – strategic directions 2007-10 (September 2007) (pdf, 289k)
Incentive packages for international
medical graduates - September 2007 (pdf, 262k)
To apply for an incentive package for international medical graduates, health services should complete the following forms:
> see instructions for completing forms
International medical graduates recruitment–incentive package application form (pdf, 601k)
International medical graduates recruitment–incentive package acquittal form (pdf, 552k)
Further information for Allied Health professionals:
Guidelines for allied health professional
incentive packages - September 2007 (pdf, 279k)
To apply for an incentive package for Allied Health professionals, health services should complete the following forms:
> see instructions for completing forms
Allied health professional recruitment–incentive package application form (pdf, 624k)
Allied health professional recruitment–incentive package acquittal form (pdf, 172k)
For the opportunity to advertise medical vacancies in the British Medical Journal at no cost, hospitals should complete the following form:
British Medical Journal vacancy template (pdf, 585k)
Instructions for completing forms
If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader 7 [or higher], you can download the interactive version of the International Medical Graduate Recruitment - Incentive Package Application and Acquittal Forms directly above, save it to your computer, fill it in and email it to: despina.papastamopoulos@dhs.vic.gov.au
Note: Acrobat Reader versions 6 or below will allow you to save the response form and fill it in on screen but you will need to print and fax or mail in your response to the address above.
> Get the latest version of Acrobat Reader
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Rural Clinical Schools
In February 2001, the Commonwealth Government committed $117.6
million over 4 years to establish Rural Clinical Schools (RCS)
attached to university medical faculties. In Victoria, the
venture is supported by the Victorian Government, with a contribution
of $4.5 million over 3 years to each of the University of Melbourne
and Monash University for teaching infrastructure and student
accommodation.
University
of Melbourne School of Rural Health sites are located at
Shepparton, Ballarat and Wangaratta. Monash University
School of Rural Health sites
are located at Traralgon, Bairnsdale, Sale, Warragul, Bendigo
and Mildura.
Although the focus is on medical training, the Rural Clinical
Schools will create a network of quality to support all health
professions in rural Victoria.
Advanced Procedural Skills for GPs
The objective of the Procedural GPs Initiative is to increase
the number of procedural GPs by providing more opportunities
for GPs to acquire and maintain the relevant skills.
Procedural posts are supernumerary advanced procedural skill posts with Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) Advanced Rural Skills Post (ARSP) accreditation. Funding is available for posts in anaesthetics, surgery, obstetrics and emergency medicine and can be applied for through the GP Regional Training Providers (RTPs). Contact details for the RTPs is included in the application kit.
Advanced
GP Procedural Training Posts in Rural Victoria - Guidelines for
2007 (2006) (PDF File 104kb)
Extended Skills for GPs
The Extended Skills for GPs program was launched in 2004 as an initiative to support the acquisition of specialised skills for general practitioners in Victoria. The Extended Skills for GPs program aims to provide a skilled GP workforce that is competent to deliver medical services relevant to the State’s health priorities. The program seeks to increase the retention and recruitment of GPs in areas of workforce shortage.
Funding is available for posts in a wide range of areas and can be applied for through the GP Regional Training Providers (RTPs). Contact details for the RTPs is included in the application kit
Extended
Skills for GPs - Guidelines for 2007 (2006) (PDF File 122kb)
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Overseas trained doctors
for hospital practice
The Council of Australian Governments agreed on 10 February 2006 to a national assessment process for international medical graduates (IMGs) to ensure appropriate standards in qualifications and training as well as an increase in the efficiency of the assessment process.
A national implementation committee has been overseeing the
development of the process, with implementation occurring in
a staged manner from July 2007. An update on progress is provided
below.
Progress
report – Nationally Consistent Assessment Process for
IMGs (PDF file 16KB)
In the 2007 State Budget, the Victorian government allocated $1.64 million in 2007–08 ($7.82 million over four years) to implement the national assessment process for IMGs. This includes more stringent pre-employment checks, participation in orientation programs and workplace based assessments of clinical performance. A copy of the IMG funding strategy can be found here: IMG Funding Strategy 2007–08 (PDF file 77KB)
Information for IMGs about immigration and visa requirements,
medical registration, the Victorian health system, living in
Victoria and finding a job can be found at IMGs
in Victoria
Other
initiatives
Rural Workforce Agency Victoria
Rural Workforce Agency Victoria (RWAV) was established in 1998 to overcome the shortage of rural doctors and improve access to medical services for rural Victorians. Initiatives include:
- Continuing Professional Development for GPs Subsidy Program
The Department provides over $200,000 per annum to subsidise rural GPs' access to procedural, non-procedural and other health related training. The capped subsidies address direct training costs as well as travel, accommodation and child-care.
- Rural Medical Family Network (RMFN)
The RMFN aims to attract, recruit and retain general practitioners to rural general practice through the promotion of rural lifestyles and through the provision of support, mentoring and networking opportunities for doctor's families. Funding provided by the Department assists in the development of information brochures for families who are relocating and spouse programs at major event and "meet and greet" programs.
- Overseas Trained Doctor Rural Recruitment Scheme
Operated by RWAV on behalf of the Victorian Government the Victorian Overseas Trained Doctor Rural Recruitment Scheme is a program to attract, assess, place and support overseas trained general practitioners in rural and regional Victoria.
Enquiries can be directed to the Rural Workforce Agency Victoria on Ph +61 3 9349 4899.
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This program is designed to provide junior doctors with a 10-13 week placement in a rural general/community practice. Further information can be found on the Commonwealth Department of Health website
The DoctorConnect website is an Australian Government initiative. This website has been developed by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing for doctors trained outside of Australia and Australian medical employers.
For
more information, please contact workforce@dhs.vic.gov.au
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