Coordinating rural divisions: the workforce window.

Divisions of General Practice have been established to alleviate the professional isolation which general practitioners face by being excluded from involvement in other parts of the health care system. Divisions facilitate the development of local communication networks and cooperative activities which improve the integration of general practice with other elements of the health system. Coordination of communication is one of the strengths of divisions at the local level and Rural Divisions Co-ordinating Units at the State level. This strength is being effectively utilised to target general practice workface issues. Given the significant proportion of general practitioners in the medical workforce, particularly in rural and remote areas, this has implications for broader medical workforce issues. Australia faces a maldistribution in its general practitioner workforce, with an excess supply in urban areas and a significant shortfall in rural and remote areas. Since 1995-96, the General Practice Rural Incentives Program, which targets the recruitment and retention of rural doctors, has devolved funding to the Rural Divisions Co-ordination Units to coordinate the statewide provision of practical assistance to rural general practitioners, through their divisions, in relation to continuing medical education and the provision of locums. There is potential to build on the success of these initiatives and also to work with urban divisions through the state-based organisational structures which are currently being developed.