Employment Resources
Training Requirements under the NTCER (AGPT)
Teaching Time
WHAT AMOUNT OF SUPERVISION ARE WE REQUIRED TO PROVIDE? CAN ONLY ACCREDITED SUPERVISORS PROVIDE SUPERVISION?
The training practice is required to provide supervision in accordance with the AGPT guidelines. These differ for each level of training and according to whether the registrar is full time or part time. The competency of the registrar must also be considered.
There should be a supervision team, comprising not only accredited supervisors but also other GPs, the practice manager, nursing, reception and administration staff. Supervision is not a one-person task.
DOES THE SUPERVISOR HAVE TO BE AVAILABLE ALL OF THE TIME?
Dependent upon the level of the registrar, the supervisor does not need to always be on site when the registrar is consulting.
The supervisor will generally not attend RACF or home visits with the registrar. However, Section 9.1 states that the supervisor or a delegate should be available to attend in person within a reasonable time frame when requested, or in the case of an emergency.
The registrar should be aware of who to call and how to contact them if their supervisor is not on site.
Educational Release
DO I HAVE TO PAY THE REGISTRAR THEIR WAGES WHEN THEY ATTEND COMPULSORY COLLEGE WORKSHOPS HELD DURING CONSULTING HOURS?
Mandatory educational release forms part of the registrar’s normal working hours, and therefore should be paid at the registrar’s base rate of pay.
MY PART TIME REGISTRAR HAS BEEN TOLD BY THEIR ME THAT THEY SHOULD BE ATTENDING EDUCATIONAL RELEASE ON A FULL TIME BASIS. DO WE HAVE TO PAY THEM FOR THIS?
The Colleges encourage registrars to attend educational release on a full time basis, however the employer is not required to pay for more than the pro-rata total of the training provider’s mandated hours.
Clause 9.2(e) of the NTCER refers to this issue.
Practices are only required to pay and provide time off for the number of hours that equates to their FTE fraction, i.e. if a registrar works 19 hours per week, they are entitled to paid educational release of 50% of the total mandated education hours.
MY PART TIME REGISTRAR HAS BEEN TOLD BY THEIR ME THAT THEY SHOULD BE ATTENDING EDUCATIONAL RELEASE ON A FULL TIME BASIS. DO WE HAVE TO GRANT THEM LEAVE TO ATTEND?
As with payment, there is no obligation for the employer to provide time out of practice for the part time registrar to attend educational release on a full time basis.
If the registrar requests time out of practice, the employer and the registrar should negotiate how this could be achieved. This may result in the registar swapping their consulting day or taking paid annual leave.
Should the registrar request leave without pay to attend educational release, they should ensure that they have discussed this with their College and understand the implications that this may have on their training time.
MY REGISTRAR IS ROSTERED TO WORK 9 HOURS ON A DAY OF EDUCATIONAL RELEASE. THE MANDATORY EDUCATION SESSION IS SCHEDULED FROM 9AM–5PM, WITH A HALF HOUR LUNCH BREAK. HOW MANY HOURS DO I PAY THEM FOR?
This is tricky, and a lot comes down to practicality and the relationship you would like to have with your registrar.
The educational release day is for 7.5 hours so what do you do with the other 1.5 hours? Do you ask the registrar to make the time up another day? Do you ‘dock’ their wages the 1.5 hours? Do you simply pay the 9 hours because the registrar has no control over the difference in hours?
Whilst the NTCER states that the hours must be paid at the base rate of pay Section 9.2 (j) , Section 9.2 (l)(a) states that whilst the registrar is entitled to be absent for the entire day, the amount that they should be paid should be UP TO the average daily hours over a 5 day/38 hour week. This equates to 7.6 hours.
Therefore, the answer is that in this situation, there is 1.4 hours that the registrar could be asked to make up on another day; alternately, they could draw on annual leave to make up any shortfall. How this is managed is a matter for the registrar, supervisor and employer to determine.
OUR REGISTRAR WORKS A 4 DAY WEEK AND THEIR EDUCATIONAL RELEASE DAY FALLS ON THEIR DAY OFF. DO WE HAVE TO GIVE THEM ANOTHER DAY OUT OF THE PRACTICE?
Yes – clause 9.2(m) covers this situation. It is important to note that the alternate day off should ideally be on the day immediately before or immediately after the educational release day.
These days cannot be ‘banked’ for use at another time.
OUR REGISTRAR HAS BEEN ADVISED THAT THEY NEED TO ATTEND 8 X1 HOUR WEBINARS AND THESE ARE SCHEDULED AT 8PM ON A WEEKNIGHT. THEY HAVE ASKED FOR A DAY OFF IN LIEU OF THIS TIME. DO I HAVE TO PROVIDE THIS?
Educational release is not paid time when it occurs ‘after hours’, i.e. outside the hours of 8.00am–8.00pm Monday to Friday and 8.00am–1pm on Saturday.
As these webinars are scheduled in the after hours period, you are not required to provide time off in lieu. Clause 9.2(a) of the NTCER covers this.
WE HAVE HAD OUR REGISTRAR FOR 2 WEEKS AND THEY HAVE ASKED IF THEY CAN CHANGE FROM 0.5FTE TO 0.75FTE. IF WE ACCOMMODATE THIS REQUEST, WILL WE RECEIVE A HIGHER PAYMENT? DO WE HAVE TO PROVIDE THEM WITH EDUCATIONAL RELEASE BASED ON THE NATIONALLY CONSISTENT PAYMENT WE RECEIVE OR THEIR ACTUAL EMPLOYMENT?
As you are only 2 weeks into a 26 week Semester, this is a very valid question.
It is unlikely that an increase in rostered hours after the commencement of the training term will result in an increase in your practice subsidy under the National Consistent Payment (NCP). However, if the employment contract is amended to a fraction of 0.75, then the registrar is entitled to paid educational release at 0.75 also. Whether you accommodate this request will be a business decision as you will not be compensated through the AGPT program for the additional out-of-practice hours.
THE REGISTRAR HAS A ½ DAY WEBINAR TO ATTEND AS PART OF THEIR MANDATORY EDUCATIONAL RELEASE. IT GOES FROM 9AM–12NOON. THEY NORMALLY START AT 8AM AND FINISH AT 5PM ON THIS DAY AND LUNCH IS FROM 12-1PM. THEY HAVE ASKED IF THEY CAN ‘ATTEND’ THE WEBINAR AT HOME AND THEN COME TO WORK AS THEIR COMPUTER SYSTEM AT HOME IS ‘BETTER’.
Clause 9.2(l) states that if an education session is 4 hours or less, it will be treated as 4 hours or a half day against their normal hours that day. As this day is normally 8 hours, they are entitled to ‘miss’ the 8am-9am hour and commence work at 1.00pm.
WE HAVE A REGISTRAR WHO IS WORKING FULL TIME OVER 2 PRACTICES. WE EACH HAVE THE REGISTRAR FOR 19 HOURS, BUT THEY WORK WITH US FOR 2 LONG DAYS AND WITH THE OTHER PRACTICE FOR 3 SHORTER DAYS. EDUCATIONAL RELEASE FALLS ON ONE OF THE DAYS THEY WORK WITH US? WHY SHOULD WE PAY FOR ALL OF THE EDUCATIONAL RELEASE AND THE OTHER PRACTICE PAY FOR NOTHING. WE ARE PAYING THEIR SHARE.
It is important when interviewing for a part time registrar that you are aware of their total commitment to the training program.
Clause 9.2(h) states that if a registrar is doing full time training through more than one employer, the registrar has a responsibility to use their best endeavours to ensure that the educational release is shared equitably.
This would mean that the registrar should provide the practice manager and/or supervisor of both practices with each other’s contact details and work flexibly within the two practices to accommodate any adjustments that are required. There is also an expectation of the employers that they will behave equitably in this situation also to optimise the registrar’s training experience.
Administration Time
WHAT IS ADMINISTRATION TIME? HOW MUCH IS ALLOWED AND WHY DO REGISTRAR’S RECEIVE THIS?
Administration time of 30 mins/half day – up to a maximum of 5 hours per week is provided for every registrar under clause 9.3 of the NTCER.
Like all GPs, registrars have work to complete that falls outside of normal appointments – checking results, speaking with other specialists or accessing appointments on their patient’s behalf. This work should be done within their 38 hours of paid time, and therefore allowance must be made in the appointment schedule for this.
OUR REGISTRAR HAS ASKED FOR THEIR ADMINISTRATION TIME TO BE FIRST THING IN THE MORNING AND LAST THING AT NIGHT – BUT THEY ARE COMING IN LATE AND LEAVING EARLY. THEY HAVE ASKED FOR EXTRA ‘CATCH UP’ APPOINTMENTS DURING THE DAY. THIS DOESN’T SEEM RIGHT.
Administration time is expected to be spent on site, and to be used for appropriate purposes.
This allowance is not to enable the registrar to leave early, or arrive late. Neither can it be ‘banked’ and utilised for a ½ day off per week – even if this time is spent during administrative tasks.
The whole purpose of administration time is to assist the registrar with managing their time effectively, to promote an appropriate work/life balance and to assist with registrar – and patient – safety. For these reasons, it is important that the guidance provided in clause 9.3 of the NTCER is followed.
Practice Orientation
OUR REGISTRAR STARTS ON MONDAY, BUT OUR PRACTICE MANAGER IS GOING INTO HOSPITAL FOR A PROCEDURE THAT DAY. CAN WE ASK THE REGISTRAR TO COME IN FOR ORIENTATION THE WEEK BEFORE? DO WE HAVE TO PAY THEM FOR THIS IF IT IS BEFORE THEIR CONTRACT STARTS?
Clause 9.4 states that the registrar is required to attend orientation after they commence their employment with the practice. In certain circumstances, this is not possible.
Clause 9.4(a) states that if the registrar is asked to attend prior to employment commencing, they must be paid at their base rate of pay for these hours.
OUR GPT1 REGISTRAR HAS COLLEGE EDUCATIONAL RELEASE ON MONDAY AND TUESDAY OF THEIR FIRST WEEK. THE PRACTICE MANAGER DOESN’T WORK WEDNESDAYS, AND CANNOT CHANGE EVEN THIS ONCE, AS THEY LOOK AFTER THEIR GRANDCHILDREN. EVEN THOUGH THE REGISTRAR DOESN’T NORMALLY WORK WEDNESDAY, CAN WE ASK THEM TO COME IN THIS TIME FOR ORIENTATION?
Hopefully you would have advance notice of the mandatory College educational release days in advance. If so, we would suggest that you have a specific roster for Week 1 that includes Wednesday and provides Friday off instead (so that the registrar is able to consolidate what they learn at Wednesday’s orientation on the Thursday).
If this is not possible, Section 9.4(b) states that the practice must pay the registrar for the orientation hours at their base rate of pay and provide the next rostered day – in this case Thursday – off in lieu.
Date reviewed: 17 September 2024