Case management: a model for the recruitment of rural general practitioners

Many strategies have been trialed to recruit GPs to rural areas and to retain them once there. The West Vic Division of General Practice, a rural division in central-western Victoria, has developed and piloted a case management model. Case management is the holistic provision of services to meet an agreed outcome. Usually these processes are used to support clients with chronic or complex care needs. In this instance, the Division recognised that the sometimes puzzling and perplexing world of medical and provider registration, rural communities and the politics of bringing a doctor into a community requires specific skills and support. A dedicated and experienced case manager provides a continuous range of services to support the process from identification through to ongoing support within the community. The project has met with considerable success over the past 18 months, with 17 doctors placed in temporary and permanent positions.