Education Assistance for GPs
Our Rural Locum Education Assistance Program (Rural LEAP) offers financial assistance to urban GPs who require emergency medicine training. To be eligible you must be willing to undertake a paid general practice locum placement in rural and remote Australia for a total of four weeks (20 working days) within two years.
Your locum commitment
You are required to undertake general practice positions located in Modified Monash (MM) categories 2-7. You can organise your locum placement or seek assistance from Rural LAP. When you have fulfilled the first 10 days of your locum commitment, please advise us as soon as possible. You can notify us by submitting a statutory declaration from the practice where you provided locum support or a letter with sufficient evidence provided. Similar documentary proof is required for the remaining 10 days of your locum commitment.
Value and payment of the incentive
The Rural LAP payment is calculated on a maximum of $6,000 per GP for three days of upskilling activities. This is based on a rate of $2,000 per day.
You will receive a 50% payment from Rural LAP on completion of the first 10 working days of your locum commitment. You must provide evidence of your locum commitment as stated above. The outstanding 50% of your payment will be transferred to your nominated bank account on completion of the final 10 working days of your locum commitment with evidence to support your claim.
Payments are made directly to a bank account nominated by you. Rural LAP will also send you friendly reminders to undertake your locum requirement by a required date.
Placements undertaken before the completion of at least one day of eligible emergency medicine training will not count towards your locum commitment. The four weeks (20 working days) can be broken up into shorter periods, however, a total of two weeks (10 working days) must be completed in the first 12 months of completing the approved emergency medicine training.
Your eligibility
To be eligible for payment under the program, you must be:
- a GP with general registration and Vocational Registration or Fellowship of either the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) or the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM)
- currently practising in an urban locality.
The MM is the classification system used to define eligible areas. Urban localities are classified in MM category 1 and localities eligible for locum placements are in MM categories 2-7.
This is a one-off incentive. You are only able to access and obtain financial assistance to undertake emergency medicine training up to a total of $6,000.
Eligible Training
Rural LAP, in consultation with relevant external agencies, assesses training eligibility for inclusion in the program. The list below provides examples of training courses. Other courses may be eligible and further information can be obtained from Rural LAP:
- Emergency Crisis Resource Management
- Early Management of Severe Trauma (EMST)
- Emergency Life Support (ELS) Course
- Advanced Paediatric Life Support (APLS)
- Rural Emergency Skills Training (REST)
- Intermediate and/or Advanced Life Support
- Emergency Medicine Crisis Management
- Intermediate and/or Advanced Clinical Emergency Management Program (CEMP) workshops
- HWQLD Rural Emergency Medicine Workshop
- Soma Health Airway, CPR and Trauma Management Workshop
If the above courses do not meet your needs, you may submit a learning plan as part of your application to be assessed. Approved training must be undertaken within 12 months of registering for education assistance. If you do not complete your training within 12 months of registration you will be removed from the program.
