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Introduction: Access to after‐hours care (AHC) is an important aspect of general practice service provision. Objective: To establish the prevalence and associations of early‐career GPs' provision of AHC. Design: An analysis of data from the New alumni Experiences of Training and independent Unsupervised Practice (NEXT‐UP) cross‐sectional questionnaire‐based study. Participants were early‐career GPs (6‐month to 2‐year post‐Fellowship) following the completion of GP vocational training in NSW, the ACT, Victoria or Tasmania. The outcome factor was 'current provision of after‐hours care'. Associations of the outcome were established using multivariable logistic regression. Findings: Three hundred and fifty‐four early‐career GPs participated (response rate 28%). Of these, 322 had responses available for analysis of currently performing AHC. Of these observations, 128 (40%) reported current provision of AHC (55% of rural participants and 32% of urban participants). On multivariable analysis, participants who provided any AHC during training were more likely to be providing AHC (odds ratio (OR) 5.51, [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.80–10.80], p < 0.001). Current rural location and in‐training rural experience were strongly associated with currently providing AHC in univariable but not multivariable analysis. Discussion: Early‐career GPs who provided AHC during training, compared with those who did not, were more than five times more likely to provide after‐hours care in their first 2 years after gaining Fellowship, suggesting participation in AHC during training may have a role in preparing registrars to provide AHC as independent practitioners. Conclusion: These findings may inform future GP vocational training policy and practice concerning registrars' provision of AHC during training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To: (1) establish the prevalence of urban, regional, rural and remote practice location of early-career general practitioners (GPs); and (2) examine demographic and training-related characteristics associated with working in regional, rural or remote areas post attainment of vocational general practice qualifications., Design: Cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study, combined with contemporaneously collected data from participants' prior vocational training., Setting: Australian general practice., Participants: Newly vocationally qualified GPs (ie, within 6 months-2 years post fellowship) who had completed vocational training with regional training organisations in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, eastern Victoria, and Tasmania between January 2016 and July 2018., Primary Outcome Measure: Rurality of post-fellowship practice location, as defined by Modified Monash Model (MMM) geographical classifications, based on current practice postcode. Prevalence of regional/rural/remote ('rural') practice was described using frequencies, and associations of rural practice were established using multivariable logistic regression, considering a range of demographic factors and training characteristics as independent variables., Results: A total of 354 participants completed the questionnaire (response rate 28%) with 319 providing information for their current practice location. Of these, 100 (31.4%) reported currently practising in a rural area (MMM2-7). Factors most strongly associated with practising in a rural area included having undertaken vocational GP training in a rural location OR 16.0 (95% CI 6.79 to 37.9); p<0.001; and undertaking schooling in rural area prior to university OR 4.21 (1.98, 8.94); p<0.001., Conclusions: The findings suggest that vocational training experience may have a role in rural general practice location post fellowship, attenuating the previously demonstrated 'leakage' from the rural practice pipeline., Competing Interests: Competing interests: DM, PM, AF, AT & AD are employees of GP Synergy; KF and MB are employees of General Practice Training Tasmania; NS is an employee of Eastern Victoria General practice training. All authors have no other interests to declare., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)