It is no longer news that there is now a major struggle to fill GP training places – something that should alarm all when judged against the huge number of medical students and junior doctors in the system. 

Last year, one in 10 places remained vacant, with application numbers continuing to plummet.

So it will come as a shock to many that the Federal Government has found $50 million from somewhere under the mattress to fund a further 400 GP places over the next four years.

The twist here is that the places will be ACRRM-only, that they are exclusively for doctors wanting to become rural generalists and that their training will take place entirely outside the Australian General Practice Training program.