South Australian GPs will descend on the Parliament of South Australia today, providing both politicians and the SA health system with a checkup while advocating for measures that will boost the state's GP workforce and access to GPs.
The five specialist GPs representing the Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP) will provide 10–15-minute health checks for MPs, including checking their blood pressure and diabetes risk and discuss the importance of all South Australians having a regular GP.
They will also discuss three measures that will grow the SA GP workforce, improve rural GP access, and mean more patients can see their GPs on weekends and after hours:
- Attract skilled overseas-trained doctors to live and work in South Australia: SA has only 107 GPs for every 100,000 people, 5.3% less than the national average of 113, and fewer overseas-educated GPs move to SA than other states – grants can help attract GPs SA needs, particularly in rural and remote communities
- Help more South Australians see their GP after hours: After-Hours GP Grants would offset extra costs of staying open on weeknights and weekends to provide non-urgent general practice care
- Connect metro GPs with rural practices to improve care in regional areas: Rural and remote communities have significantly fewer GPs than Adelaide, and worse health outcomes – but funding could enable more metropolitan GPs to regularly practice in rural and remote communities, supporting rural health, building links with patients and towns, and giving rural GPs the opportunity to take leave and reduce burnout.
RACGP SA Chair Dr Siân Goodson said South Australia faces challenges in growing its GP workforce, but the GPs are bringing solutions.
"As someone who settled in South Australia after training in the UK, I can see there are opportunities to attract the specialist GPs we need to both metropolitan areas and our rural and remote towns," she said.
"We're already making progress among doctors who completed their medical degree in Australia, with 114 junior doctors starting their specialist GP training here in 2025 – a 34% increase on 2024, and a 60% increase for those training on a rural pathway and delivering vital healthcare in rural and remote areas.
"But Queensland and NSW welcome twice the number of future GPs per person as SA on the RACGP's Fellowship Support Program, which allows doctors who completed their medical degree overseas to fund their own GP training.
"If we offset their costs with $40,000 grants, we can incentivise these future GPs to move to and train in South Australia. These doctors practice outside metropolitan areas, so would be a significant boost for our rural GP workforce.
"GPs are also more likely to stay where they train, so this is a long-term investment in health for all our communities."
Dr Goodson also highlighted the opportunity to increase access to after-hours non-urgent, routine general practice care.
"Everyday preventive care is how you keep people out of hospital in the longer term, and something that's been missed with the focus on urgent care," she said.
"Too many people miss opportunities for non-urgent and preventive care because they can't see a GP on weekdays. A small per-practice investment will mean more patients can access care from their usual specialist GP.
"When patients see the same GP, their experience of healthcare is transformed – they rate their care as higher quality and better coordinated, they trust the health system more, and they live longer and healthier lives. That's a benefit for both primary care and hospital care.
"Everyone deserves to be able to access general practice care, and that includes patients who can't see a GP in the typical practice hours. Telehealth with your usual GP is a great option for when you need flexibility, but there's no substitute to in-person care with a GP who knows you.
"For $150,000 per practice per year to help cover the extra costs of after-hours services, more GPs can provide care until 8pm on weeknights and on Sunday mornings.
"It's a great way to make non-urgent healthcare more accessible and affordable for patients."
The third priority for South Australian GPs is a Metro to Rural Practice Program, which aims to increase access to general practice care in rural and remote communities. It proposes funding metropolitan GPs to train in rural medicine and establish a regular working schedule in a rural area, getting to know the practice, the hospital, and the community they are supporting.
The program would mean rural GPs in South Australia are more able to take leave when needed, reducing burnout, and when they do, their patients can see a GP who knows them and their community.
"People living in our rural and remote communities often live with poorer health," Dr Goodson said.
"That's partly because they can't as easily access a regular GP. While locum GPs, who fill in when a GP takes leave, help fill urgent workforce gaps, they can't provide the same ongoing care as a GP who knows their patients.
"Our Metro to Rural Practice Program would allow metro-based GPs to work regular shifts in rural or regional clinics, helping replace temporary locum work with consistent care.
"Everyone benefits – GPs from Adelaide will gain valuable experience and build relationships with communities, and patients will see a specialist GP they know when their usual GP takes a well-earned break.
"Telehealth also means there will be opportunities for follow-up care by a GP who knows their health and medical history. There's no substitute for a GP who knows you, and this is exactly the kind of care and GP–patient relationship that keeps you healthy in the long term."
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