source : the age
Medical students have raised doubts about a new school of medicine set to open at the Queensland University of Technology, claiming the “flashy” facility could do more harm than good if built and run in Brisbane.
The QUT program, which secured funding in this week’s federal budget and was expected to open in 2027, would focus on understaffed medical specialisations, including nursing, psychology, and general practice.
However, Australian Medical Students’ Association president Melody Ahfock – who is also a medical student in Queensland – was worried the new facility was more about grabbing attention than fixing the shortage.
Australian Medical Students’ Association president Melody Ahfock says funding should be used to boost rural programs and support students from those communities rather than being funnelled into a new school in Brisbane. Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt
“We have very little information right now about how QUT is going to go about [placements and program design] in an effective way,” she said.
Ahfock said students’ main concern was that QUT – which has four campuses, all within south-east Queensland – would fail to cater to rural students.
“That funding could be used … for rural clinical schools, as well as the expansion of supports for students, like the Commonwealth Prac Payment, to ensure students – particularly from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, who the evidence shows are more likely to go into the communities that they come from – are well-supported during their degrees, so they can become the workforce that we need,” Ahfock said.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found Australians in remote and rural communities generally accessed healthcare less often, leading to higher rates of preventable hospitalisations.
The QUT program was expected to get medical students into the workforce faster by offering flexible arrangements that would enable them to work in healthcare while completing their final years of study.
QUT has not publicly announced the location of its new facility, which would accept 48 students in its first year.
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said the program would help deliver medical practitioners “with the right skills, in the right place”.
“More medical students studying and graduating in Brisbane and Queensland means more doctors living and working in the state – and particularly in general practice,” he said.
Ahfock said a school in the south-east could also make it harder for students from other schools to access limited local placements.
“Students who have positive GP placement experiences while they’re in medical school are far more likely to choose those careers later on when they choose their specialty,” she said.
While the course had yet to be certified by the Australian Medical Council, Queensland medical bodies welcomed the news.
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Queensland chair Cathryn Hester said the college was “very supportive” of any efforts to expand the GP workforce. And Australian Medical Association Queensland president Nick Yim said the state needed more medical students.
The QUT medical school was expected to train 48 students per year, beginning from 2027.Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt
“We also need to ensure those students have secure career pathways,” he said.
“That means more graduate training places and incentives to attract and retain doctors in both the specialties and regions we need – especially in rural Queensland.”
In December last year, the state government ended an incentive aimed at drawing medical staff to rural areas.
The state said the scheme had failed to keep current rural workers and attract new ones, and would have blown its budget by $165.8 million if it continued to the end of 2026.
Yim said the scheme had been an “effective initiate”. He added that AMA Queensland established a working group in January to look into staffing across the state. Its findings were expected to be delivered ahead of the June budget.
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