Students from Melbourne's west to be part of next generation of GPs

Applications are open for a new streamlined pathway for Victoria University (VU) graduates to study medicine at the University of Melbourne.

Thanks to a new partnership between the two universities and Commonwealth funding, graduates from approved Victoria University degrees will be eligible for selection in the University of Melbourne’s Doctor of Medicine North Western Pathway.

The initiative, which aims to strengthen the general practice and primary care medical workforce in the western and north-western Melbourne growth corridor, will be available for up to eight graduating VU students commencing in  2027.

Becoming a doctor was always the goal for VU Bachelor of Paramedicine graduate and western suburbs local, Peter Davis. He is now studying medicine at the University of Melbourne.

He welcomed the new pathway as an alternative route into medicine for some.

“It’s also about making people more aware of these other ways to get into medicine,” Mr. Davis said.

“Coming from the paramedicine degree, I have a lot of exposure to emergency departments and medicine, and I’ve learned every patient is very different, and every experience is different. I’ve also learned a lot of interpersonal skills as well.”

As part of the initiative to boost the number of medical graduates choosing to be GPs, the University of Melbourne’s Doctor of Medicine Program is developing a new Enhanced Primary Care Stream in the Doctor of Medicine Program.  North Western Pathway students who want to be GPs will have priority access to this stream which will include additional clinical placements in GP clinics, mentoring from GPs and primary care researchers and new electives in primary care. 

Professor Karen Dodd, Executive Dean, College of Sport, Health and Engineering at VU, said the initiative was an opportunity to strengthen the existing connection between the VU and health care in the area.

“Our nurses, midwives, paramedics, physiotherapists and other health care workers have a long history of providing lifesaving and life-changing care for countless people living in the west of Melbourne,” Professor Dodd said. “We are proud and excited that a new pathway has been established for our hardworking and dedicated students.”

Professor Sarath Ranganathan, Head of the Melbourne Medical School at the University of Melbourne, said by supporting local people to study medicine and enter the medical workforce, the initiative aims to improve health in Melbourne’s west. 

“We’re pleased to be working closely with VU to open our medical training up to a community that we know needs more home-grown doctors,” Professor Ranganathan said.

Melbourne’s western and north-western suburbs are major growth corridors and there are projections that additional doctors will be needed. By 2031, around 25,000 new health and care jobs are forecast for Melbourne’s west.
 
As of last year, VU had more than 4,000 students enrolled in health courses, across TAFE and higher education, with approximately 68 per cent of those students based in the west. 

The North Western Pathway is a collaboration between the University of Melbourne and Victoria University. The University of Melbourne and the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing are working to enter into an agreement, and the universities acknowledge the generous support of the Commonwealth to strengthen the general practice and primary care medical workforce in the Western and North Western Melbourne growth corridor. 

Last December the University of Melbourne was awarded 10 new Medical CSPs by a competitive grant process conducted by the Commonwealth Government. While eight of the positions are going to the new VU pathway, two are going to be delivered by the University of Melbourne’s Rural Medical School based in Shepparton, growing its existing pathway in partnership with La Trobe University in the Goulburn Valley.

Applications now open

Full details of the program are available on the application website .