Chair’s Report November 2021

Nicole Higgins GPTT Staff
Pictured at GP Training Tasmania (GPTT) are Joanne Folder, Dr Nicole Higgins (GPSA Chair)and Sarah Roberts.

Supervisors recognised with new payment model

GPSA has been successful in advocating on behalf of our members for improved Nationally Consistent Payments to Supervisors and Practices at a time when the funding pot is shrinking. This recognises that supervisors haven’t had a pay rise in nearly 20 years.

In October I attended the final workshop on Nationally Consistent Payments with the Department of Health and stakeholders. GPSA’s position is that no supervisor or training practice should be worse off after transition and equal work deserves equal pay. We have had payments elevated to the highest in the country for all. For most supervisors and practices this will be a considerable improvement as there was considerable variability across RTO’s. We thank the department and sector for acknowledging the central role that supervisors play in GP training. The document is currently going through departmental approval and we will send this out to you as soon as it hits our desk.

The other win was payment and support for Supervisor Professional Development as this wasn’t included originally. The department has allocated funds to the colleges for Supervisor professional development.

In the last few weeks, I have met face to face with NTGPE, GPTT and GPTQ and local supervisors. The colleges have reassured GPSA that the transition will be smooth for registrars and training practices and will continue to be regionally delivered. RACGP has consulted with GPSA on its draft RACGP (PLT) Profession Led Training Plan which we have endorsed. There is not a great deal of change from what we already do now. We will all know a bit more at the end of this month when the grant opportunities go out to the colleges. Curiously, we have recently heard that the Universities may also be delivering training due to their pipeline model and end to end training so watch this space.

GPSA has commenced working with GPRA to negotiate the NTCER. Both organisations are taking an integrative negotiation position and collaborative approach to get the best outcome for all. The maturing of the relationship with GPRA and GPSA ensures a strong position for both organisations to advocate for their membership whilst working together to get the best outcomes for trainees and supervisors in GP training.

GPSA held its AGM – highlights of our year include;

  • Membership grew 8%
  • 41% of supervisors are women
  • 3500 training practices represented by GPSA
  • Resources downloaded > 100,000 times
  • Total membership 8343 – 5952 supervisors, 2391 hornorary which include Practice Managers, registrars as future supervisors and stakeholders.

Download 2020/21 Annual Report.

Yours in Training,

Dr Nicole Higgins

Date reviewed: 16 April 2025

Please note that while reasonable care is taken to provide accurate information at the time of creation, we frequently update content and links as needed. If you identify any inconsistencies or broken links, please let us know by email.

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Chair’s Report July 2021

Supervisors are Superheros

Dr Nicole Higgins

Dr. Nicole Higgins, GPSA Chair

Thank you.

Life is pretty tough at the moment being a GP, let alone being a supervisor. On top of looking after your own patients and staff, you are caring for the welfare and training of the next generation of family doctors. It is exhausting having to continually pivot during this pandemic and I am hearing many stories of supervisor exhaustion and burn out.

I too know how that feels. As a sole owner of a 10 GP practice, a vaccinating practice in a regional community which struggles with workforce, I am tired. I kept putting off my holidays because of Covid but I decided to ‘just do it’. Sometimes you have to put your own oxygen mask on first. The best lesson we can model for our learners is self care.

So, what does a GP supervisor do?

A lot more than you think. GPSA is currently negotiating with the colleges and Department of Health on your behalf on payments to supervisors and training practices and what this will look like post transition of training. Key to this discussion is defining who we are and what we do.

We do more than provide in practice teaching

What are we worth?

To put it simply – if we were properly paid the government couldn’t afford us. If we were paid for training registrars like we are for medical students the costs would be a massive $500M.

Last month we attended a workshop in Canberra with the key stakeholders and the department on National Consistent Payments for Supervisors, Training Practices and Registrars. We have entered the negotiations attempting to grow the pie for supervisors in a tight budget.

The fact that supervisors aren’t paid to supervise is the glaring gap.

One opportunity to expand the pie is an MBS item number for supervision. For example a GPT1 starts on Level 1 supervision where a supervisor is in every consultation which reduces over time. A simple MBS item number triggered by the registrar when they ask their supervisor for assistance is on the table for discussion.

Supervisors will continue to be paid for teaching and practices will still compensated for taking on a registrar with particular emphasis on the early stages of training. At the moment there is significant variation amongst RTO’s and we are working towards supervisors being paid the same across Australia. We also support continued funding for discretionary spending to support practices and supervisors in recognition of  issues around complexity and rurality in training.

Yours in training,

Dr Nicole Higgins
Chair GPSA

Date reviewed: 15 April 2025

Please note that while reasonable care is taken to provide accurate information at the time of creation, we frequently update content and links as needed. If you identify any inconsistencies or broken links, please let us know by email.

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Chair’s Report May/June 2021

More than a Word. Reconciliation Takes Action

Reconciliation means ‘coming together’. This is a time for us to reflect on the  relationship between the  broader Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. National Reconciliation Week is an opportunity to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements. 

Let’s use this next week to teach our registrars and medical students about Aboriginal and Islander health in your region. I will be using the excellent GPSA resources to assist me in my teaching https://gpsa.org.au/indigenous-health/

Dr Nicole Higgins

Dr. Nicole Higgins, GPSA Chair

Supervisor Remuneration and Reform

Supervisors are NOT paid to provide clinical supervision.

Supervisors are paid to provide in practice teaching in GPT1/2 only. 

Practices are compensated  for when their registrars are away from the practice for educational release.

Clinical supervision is largely voluntary. Supervision of doctors and GP’s in training ensures patient safety and a quality learning experience

There is a lack of consistency of supervisor and training practice support across the GP training pipeline. GPSA has done a deep dive into how this is done across Australia and the programs and is currently informing the department and colleges. Over the next couple of months there will be a series of roundtables with the department, colleges and GPSA/GPRA to review the reform process and better understand what we have and where we would like to go. We will continue to inform and seek feedback  from our membership so that we can develop a system that is streamlined, consistent and fair.

GPSA is currently developing a quality improvement framework to support practices in providing a quality training experience. The guiding principle is that it is simple, it builds on what practices already do and can be part of a simplified accreditation process.

GPSA is also working with RACGP as they develop a supervisor curriculum. 

Transition to Profession Led Community based GP Training

The transition of GP training was announced in October 2017 by the Health Minister Greg Hunt with both RACGP and ACRRM to fully take over in January 2022. Everything changed in October last year when it was announced that the transition was halted and the department wanted to refocus on ‘workforce solutions’ and ‘efficiencies’. We were told that there would be ‘winners and losers’. 

In the recent GPSA survey most supervisors said that they were satisfied or more than satisfied with their RTO’s. Supervisors and training practices were disappointed to discover that the department had deemed that RTO’s “were not the way forward” as they often  have a personal relationship with their local medical educators and administrators. The RACGP’s new model will provide a continuity of these relationships through their local teams and case management of registrars.The model ensures the continuity of SLO’s and RLO’s which is vital to support  supervisors and registrars.

We are working in a challenging environment where there have been years of neglect and underfunding in primary care, workforce need not only in rural but in regional, outer metro and urban and a cohort of registrars whom are older (average 34 yrs), settled and with high debt from HECS, training and mortgages.

We are all working towards a smooth transition of training to the colleges. The discussions and negotiations are robust but respectful.

Yours in training,

Dr Nicole Higgins
Chair GPSA

Date reviewed: 15 April 2025

Please note that while reasonable care is taken to provide accurate information at the time of creation, we frequently update content and links as needed. If you identify any inconsistencies or broken links, please let us know by email.

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