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New WIP Rural Advanced Skills Payments
The new WIP – Rural Advanced Skills payment provides an annual financial incentive to improve access to quality medical services in rural Australia by rewarding general practitioner’s own investment in advanced skills and specialist qualifications.
If you are a doctor providing primary care services and advanced skills services in locations classified as Modified Monash MM3 to MM7 you may be eligible for the new WIP Rural Advanced Skills payment. Incentives of up to $21,000 per calendar year may be payable to GPs or rural generalists, with the amount of incentive payment varying by remoteness and volume of services delivered.
Doctors with extra qualifications – including in obstetrics, anaesthetics, surgery, mental health, and First Nations health – may be eligible for an additional $4,000 to $10,500 per year, depending on location and level of services provided. Another payment stream will also offer $4,000 to $10,500 per year to doctors offering emergency care and emergency after hours services in eligible locations.
Annual payments will start being rolled out to successful applicants from 1 January 2024, for services delivered during 2023, 2024 and 2025.
To check your eligibility, the level of payments and application process, see the Rural Advanced Skills section of the WIP website. Information available includes a fact sheet, program guidelines, FAQs and RWA contact details for each Rural Workforce Agency that assesses applications.
Doctors will need to complete separate forms when applying for Stream 1: Emergency Services and Stream 2: Advanced Skills.
Non-vocationally registered doctors not on approved training programs become eligible for 80% of WIP Doctor Stream incentives payable to vocationally registered GPs.
As of 1 January 2024, a doctor’s vocational registration status will have implications for the amount of WIP – Doctor Stream incentive that may be payable. The payment that non-vocationally registered doctors who are not on an approved training pathway will receive, will be 80% of the value of WIP - Doctor Stream payments. If you are a doctor in these circumstances, who is working in primary care (MM3-7), the value of payments will range between $3,600 and $48,000, depending on a doctor’s activity levels, location and duration of active services within the program.
Non-vocationally registered doctors not on an approved training pathway are encouraged to consider exploring the approved training pathways on offer from the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine or the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. Enrolling in an approved training pathway as soon as possible is encouraged. Approved training pathways on offer from GP Colleges include the Australian General Practice Training Program, the Rural Generalist Training Scheme and Remote Vocational Training Scheme, among others.
Non-vocationally registered doctors engaged in an approved training pathway do not need to do anything.
You can contact us (Health Workforce Queensland) via email or the Rural Workforce Agent (RWA) in your state/territory for further assistance/information.
