Training Site | FRACGP | ARST | Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander health |
Addiction medicine | Academic Practice | Adult Internal Medicine | Anaesthesia | Child health | Emergency Medicine | Mental Health | Obs. & Gynae | Paediatrics | Palliative care | Population Health | Remote Medicine | Sexual Health | Surgery |
Darwin & Palmerston | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
Darwin Remote | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||||||||||
Tiwi Islands | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||||||||||
East Arnhem | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||||||||
Katherine Region | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||||||
Barkly Region | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||||||||
Alice Springs Region | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
✓ Training available. If you are interested in an ARST not listed, please contact the RACGP rural team.
Note: To be used as a guide only - refer to the relevant health service and RACGP for current training post accreditation options
There are multiple pathways that lead to a General Practitioner and Rural Generalist fellowship with RACGP:
Australian General Practice Training Program (AGPT)
The Australian General Practice Training (AGPT) Program trains medical registrars in general practice. Registrars who achieve their fellowship through the program can work as GPs anywhere in Australia. Registrars can complete their training in various contexts within urban, rural and remote practices.
Completion of AGPT training within RACGP can lead to registration with the Medical Board of Australia with one of the following fellowships:
Fellowship Support Program (FSP)
The Fellowship Support Program (FSP) is a self-funded education and training program to support non-vocationally registered doctors on their journey to Fellowship. It includes self-directed learning, in-practice learning, optional workshops, and workplace-based assessments (WBAs) for feedback and progress monitoring. Registrars work in accredited training practices under supervision.
RACGP’s Rural Generalist Fellowship
RACGP’s Rural Generalist (RG) Fellowship is awarded in addition to the vocational Fellowship of the RACGP (FRACGP). It aims to develop additional rural skills and broaden options for safe, accessible and comprehensive care for Australia’s rural, remote and very remote communities.
You have up to six years to complete the requirements and achieve dual RACGP fellowship (FRACGP, FRACGP-RG). The RG Fellowship is a recognised end-point for rural generalist training on state and territory rural generalist programs and as part of the Australian General Practice Training program (AGPT). rural and remote communities.
If you’re working towards the Rural Generalist Fellowship, you’ll do 52 weeks of additional rural skills training (ARST) in an accredited training post. This training is designed to give you an opportunity to develop additional skills and expertise in a particular area (and enhance your capability to provide secondary care to your community. You must be enrolled in rural generalist training to undertake ARST. You can enrol at any stage before completion of core vocational training.
Training requirements | Rural Generalist Fellowship |
Hospital term | 12 months full time equivalent (FTE) hospital term (can be postgraduate year 2 or above) |
Rural GP terms | 18 months FTE community-based general practice (including a minimum of 12 months FTE in rural MMM3-7 location) |
Additional Rural Skills Training (ARST) | 12 months FTE of skills training in an accredited training post with the Rural Generalist Fellowship curriculums. |
Emergency medicine | Core-emergency medicine training including 6 months FTE of training in an accredited emergency medicine facility with appropriate supervision. |
Learning plan and reflection | Online skills self-assessment, reflection and learning activities. |
Community project | Optional activity unless required by ARST curriculum (eg, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health). |
The RACGP can only confirm eligibility by examining a submitted application and supporting documents. To be eligible, you must:
The RACGP’s Fellowship programs recognises the work international medical graduates have completed overseas and in Australia. Applicants with a specialist qualification may be eligible for the Practice Experience Program Specialist Stream. Applicants without a recognised specialist qualification should apply through the Practice Experience Program Standard Stream.
The AGPT program is a three or four years full time program (or part time equivalent). There is some flexibility in how you complete the program, and you can see the core requirements in the graphic below, including the optional additional year of training for those undertaking rural generalist training.
The AGPT Program | ||
Year 1 | Hospital Training: 52 weeks FTE with general registration | |
Year 2 & 3 | General practice term 1 (GPT1): 26 weeks FTE | General practice term 2 (GPT2): 26 weeks FTE |
General practice term 3 (GPT3): 26 weeks FTE | Extended skills training* / GPT 4: 26 weeks FTE (can be completed at any time during years 2 and 3) | |
Royal generalist training (optional additional year, completed anytime during training) | Additional rural skills training (ARST): 52 weeks FTE | |
Core emergency medicine training (Core-EMT): 26 weeks FTE (can be undertaken as the extended skills term*) |
Year 1: training is delivered within a hospital setting including clinical rotations relevant to general practice.
Years 2 - 3: 3 x 6-month general practice terms working in a clinic and seeing patients. 1 x 6-months extended skills term (for example palliative care, sports medicine, sexual health and skin cancer medicine).
Year 4 (optional): undertaking additional rural skills training towards the RACGP Rural Generalist Fellowship (FRACGP-RG). Disciplines include: