Rural Practice differs significantly from urban General Practice due to the differing resources available in rural areas and the advanced skills GPs require to manage patients who their urban colleagues might refer to secondary or tertiary care. Rural training presents many professional opportunities including the opportunity to be exposed to and learn the range of responsibilities, decision-making, leadership, autonomy, teamwork and co-ordination skills that are fundamental in rural General Practice. In addition it provides opportunities to learn procedural skills commonly utilised in a rural setting. These are the very types of responsibilities and procedural skills required to meet the needs of rural and remote communities where the G Ps provide a continuum of care at both primary and secondary levels particularly where the local hospital does not employ Staff Medical Officers.
NEATS is committed to providing training that equips Rural Pathway Registrars to work in rural and remote communities. In support of this commitment:
All Rural Stream Registrars entering NEATS will be provided with training which will render them eligible for obtaining the FRACGP and the FACRRM on completion of their training.
NEATS requires that supervising Practices enter into contractual arrangements with Registrars, and that contracts are compatible with the National Minimum Terms and Conditions.
Any Registrar placed in a Rural Doctors Association Settlement Package (RDASP) hospital location or a hospital with a GP Visiting Medical Officer's (VMO's) roster will be required to participate on the VMO's roster on an equal basis with other VMOs on that hospital roster. Supervisors unable to provide appropriate supervision for Registrar VMOs must make satisfactory arrangements for their supervision prior to approval of placement.
All Rural Stream Registrars will undertake a minimum of one year in supervised General Practice as a VMO on call or equivalent. This may be undertaken during basic, advanced, subsequent or advanced rural skills terms. Appropriate Rural and Remote Area Placement Program (RRAPP) time will be recognised as prior learning. An exemption will apply to recognised training in rural communities without a RDASP hospital (such as Armidale). Such exemption will be for a period no longer than six months.