Colleges call for sustained investment to select, train and retain specialists where Australians need them most, including areas of growing need
LAUNCESTON – The Presidents and CEOs of Australia’s specialist medical colleges will meet in Launceston, Tasmania, on 11–12 November for the Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges’ (CPMC) quarterly meeting, joined by regional training hubs, health services and other health stakeholders. The focus will be on bringing colleges and key stakeholders together to share insights, identify opportunities for collaboration and explore practical ways to improve the selection, training and retention of specialists in regional and remote communities, and in areas of growing need.
The gathering comes as rural and regional Australians continue to experience significant inequities in access to specialist care. Only around 14% of specialist trainees currently train outside major cities.
“Where someone lives should not determine their access to specialist care. Colleges are already leading practical work to select, train and retain specialists in regional communities. The task now is to shift training from metropolitan-centred to regionally based pathways, back what is working with sustained funding, and do it together with training hubs, health services and governments,” said A/Prof Kerin Fielding, Chair of CPMC.
The meeting will build on work colleges are already leading:
- Selection: the CPMC Rural Selection Guide for Medical Colleges, developed in June 2025 with the National Rural Health Commissioner, supports the selection of trainees for rural and regional practice.
- Training: across 40 Flexible Approach to Training in Expanded Settings (FATES) projects, colleges have tested new training and supervision models, built regional training pathways, addressed accreditation barriers and strengthened culturally safe training. Some have already increased accredited rural sites and helped doctors stay in regional communities.
- Retaining: the Support for Rural Specialists in Australia (SRSA) program, administered by CPMC, helps keep specialists already working in the regions.
Colleges train and assess specialists, but they do not fund training places nor determine the number or location of these funded positions Around 90% are funded by states and territories, and about 7% by the Commonwealth through the Specialist Training Program (STP).
Regional and rural trainees who rotate into the city also lack the same access to funding as metropolitan trainees who go rural for placements, working against the very pathways colleges are trying to build. And many of the most promising projects remain pilots that cannot be scaled without ongoing funding.
Colleges are already demonstrating what works, however good pilots shouldn’t end when the funding does. Coordinated investment and a commitment from governments to turn successful initiatives into sustainable regional training and employment pathways is needed,” said Dr Fielding. This would support training specialists where communities need them, -assist them to build careers there and plan our future workforce around patient needs,” said Dr Fielding.
CPMC is calling on coordinated Government action to:
- Increase STP funding by $35.4 million annually to expand regional training opportunities.
- Lift FATES funding to $17 million annually so proven models move beyond pilots.
- Lift SRSA funding to $2 million annually to retain the specialists already in the regions.
- Support regionally based trainees with travel and accommodation for mandatory metropolitan rotations.
- Invest in coordinated, multi-specialty regional training hubs.
- Better align training, workforce planning and specialist employment with community need.
“The discussions in Launceston will help identify practical opportunities for colleges, governments and regional partners to work together. We will bring these insights and practical solutions to the House Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability on 18 November, reinforcing the need for a coordinated national approach to improving access to specialist care.”
ENDS
For further information, please contact CPMC on 0405 497 510.
