Improving access to high-quality specialist care, CPMC proposes an additional $45.6 million per year in ongoing Commonwealth funding, plus $980,000 in one-off funding, to deliver a coordinated package of reforms.
Executive Summary
From the Chair, Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges
Improving health outcomes for people living in rural, regional, and remote Australia is a priority for the Commonwealth Government. Through initiatives such as the Specialist Training Program (STP), the Support for Rural Specialists in Australia (SRSA) program, and the Flexible Approach to Training in Expanded Settings (FATES) program, the Commonwealth has demonstrated leadership in advancing the National Medical Workforce Strategy’s goal of a high-quality, well distributed medical workforce.
Australia’s health system is rightly regarded as one of the strongest in the world. Yet for too many people, particularly those living outside major cities, access to specialist care is increasingly difficult. Long waiting times, limited local availability and workforce shortages mean that where a person lives has become a decisive factor in whether they can receive timely, high-quality specialist care. This inequity is unacceptable and avoidable.
The underlying challenge is structural. Specialist care is unevenly distributed because specialist training is unevenly distributed. Where doctors train strongly influences where they practise, yet most specialist training continues to occur in metropolitan settings. While existing Commonwealth programs supporting rural specialist training, retention and innovation are delivering positive results, their impact is constrained by scale, fragmentation, and misalignment with workforce planning.
The Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges (CPMC) is the peak body for Australia’s specialist medical colleges. Our purpose is to uphold and advance the standards of medical practice by influencing the development of a skilled medical workforce through training and education and the quality and safety of patient care.
Colleges are central to any sustainable solution to improving access to specialist care outside major cities. This Pre-Budget Submission sets out a small number of targeted, evidence-based investments designed to address the structural causes of specialist workforce maldistribution and improve access to high quality care where it is most needed.
On behalf of the 16 specialist medical colleges, CPMC proposes an additional $45.6 million per year in ongoing Commonwealth funding, plus $980,000 in one-off funding, to deliver a coordinated package of reforms that will strengthen specialist training, retention and workforce planning nationally, improving access to high-quality care where it is most needed. The proposed investments are to:
- Train specialists where patients need care by scaling what works
An investment to develop and expand the Flexible Approach to Training in Expanded Settings program through an increase of $9 million per year, consistent with Grattan Institute recommendations. This investment would allow proven training innovation to be scaled and implemented nationally. This would be complemented by a one off $980,000 investment to scope and design multi-specialist rural and regional specialist training hubs. - Fund the specialists patients are waiting for
An increase of $35.4 million per year to the Specialist Training Program, consistent with the Grattan Institute recommendations to increase funding of training programs and expand specialist training capacity in priority specialties and locations outside major cities. - Retain the specialists rural communities rely on
An increase in funding for the Support for Rural Specialists in Australia program of $1.2 million per year, protecting access to care by retaining experienced specialists in rural and remote communities. - Plan nationally to deliver access locally
Establishment of a joint national specialist workforce planning mechanism to align funding, training capacity and workforce need, reducing duplication and implementation risk.
Together, these investments focus on fixing system design rather than managing the consequences of workforce shortages. They build on existing Commonwealth programs that are already delivering results, but lack the scale and coordination needed to shift access at a national level.
These solutions will improve access to specialist care closer to home for people in rural and regional areas, reduce avoidable hospitalisations due to delays as well as patient transfers, strengthen value for money from existing training investment, and support a more sustainable and predictable specialist workforce over the long term.
CPMC and its member colleges stand ready to work with the Commonwealth to deliver these reforms and ensure that access to high-quality specialist care no longer depends on postcode.
Associate Professor Kerin Fielding
Chair, CPMC
