It is estimated Western Australia will face a shortfall of 370 rural and remote general practitioners (GPs) by 2030.
At present there are about 850 GPs working in primary care in rural and remote areas of the State and 80-90 places needing to be filled, which is a vacancy rate of about 10 per cent.
Between 2018 and 2022, the ratio of GPs per 100,000 people in the bush fell from 86.9 to 77.1 and this declining trend is set to continue, according to Rural Health West.
It convened a summit last week to address the increasing deficit of GPs working in rural and regional WA and develop strategies to turn the trend around.
The summit bought together the State's leading rural and remote health policy and decision-makers, including WA Health Minister Amber-Jane Sanderson, chief medical officer Simon Towler, the National Rural Health Commissioner Ruth Stewart, rural GPs and representatives from peak health organisations, including the Australian Medical Association and the Aboriginal Health Council of WA.
Rural Health West chief executive officer Tim Shackleton said its aims were to make sure all people in the bush had access to high quality health care, recruiting and supporting health professionals in the bush and - increasingly - getting allied health and nursing professional services in the bush.
He said the current 10pc vacancy rate of doctors in rural and remote WA was stubbornly hard to shift.
"The areas that feel the shortage most are the Wheatbelt and the Pilbara," Mr Shackleton said.
"In these areas, there is a lower ratio of doctors per head of population.
"In the Wheatbelt, it is hard to find doctors because there are so many small towns and doctors typically have to work solo, which is challenging.
"The Pilbara is a particular challenge because of its remoteness and that doesn't suit everyone's lifestyle."
Mr Shackleton said predictions were that more rural and remote GPs would be needed in future as population in WA's regions increased and the prevalence of chronic diseases that required ongoing care also climbed.
He said the estimate was 370 more places would need to be filled by 2030.
"That is a big challenge and no single agency will be able to achieve it on its own," Mr Shackleton said.
"Hence we are having a summit to bring all agencies and industry stakeholders together to work on solutions."
Mr Shackleton said there were many challenges in getting rural and remote GPs to work in the bush.
"While country life is terrific for many, we need to recognise that others prefer life in the city - so, it is not for everyone," he said.
"There are record numbers of university graduates from medical courses, but this is not translating to more doctors becoming GPs - especially rural GPs.
"The predicted tidal wave of medical graduates is coming to fruition but these graduates are not making it past the Darling Scarp.
"There are also more attractive options for them to go into specialist training rather than GP training.
"There are personal ambition factors that come into play, along with family situation, concerns about isolation and of being left behind professionally."
Mr Shackleton said medical graduates were more likely to be enticed to go to the bush if they had grown up in a regional area and, to that end, there were programs targeting country kids to become doctors.
He said there was a big reliance on international medical graduates (IMG), who made up about 52pc of rural and remote GPs in WA.
"This cohort will continue to be an important source of rural and remote GPs in the future," he said.
Rural Health West has flagged initiatives to support IMGs, offer enhanced training opportunities and provide targeted financial incentives based on local needs as solutions to the GP shortfall in the bush.
Mr Shackleton said there needed to be sector-wide collaboration to tackle the rural health crisis and last week's summit would serve as a platform for identifying practical and feasible solutions to current and future challenges.
