Funding approval to scope rural training pathway
The Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing announced on 2nd July 2025 that the WA Rural Paediatric Training Pathway has been selected for funding in Round 4 of the Flexible Approach to Training in Expanded Settings (FATES).
The Rural Paediatric Training Pathway will systematically and collaboratively enhance paediatric training opportunities in rural Western Australia by addressing barriers to rural paediatric training access and creating a defined and secure pathway for paediatric trainees wanting to pursue rural practice. The current training system requires trainees to be metropolitan-employed. While it provides short-term mandatory rural placements these have been shown to have little influence on a specialist pursuing a rural career upon achieving Fellowship with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP). Approval of this project to scope a Rural Paediatric Training Pathway is the first step in enabling rural doctors to stay connected to country creating attractive rural pathways and ultimately addressing the health care disparity between rural and metropolitan based patients by improving specialist case access closer to home.
Further details to come once available.