From the Chair...

Holding things lightly and with Joy

It’s hard to believe that 2025 is already upon us!

I hope, like me, you are ready to say adieu to a challenging and productive, if at times chaotic and exhausting, year in 2024. As we usher in the next twelve months of opportunity and excellence in this profession we work diligently to perpetuate, I would firstly like to thank our members – GP supervisors and practice managers scaffolding the learning of the medical students, prevocational doctors and vocational trainees who will be looking after us long into the future – for their continuing support of all that GPSA is and does.

My sincere hope for this new year is that GPSA continues to build on established relationships and collaborations to enhance our reach in delivering quality and excellence in both supervision and training site support. As we crank back into gear after the New Year break, we look forward to continuing our ongoing efforts to advocate for sector-wide improvements alongside our sister organisation, GPRA, whose new President, Dr Chris Dickie, takes the baton from Dr Karyn Matterson as the clock strikes midnight on the 1st of January. We thank Karyn for her contribution in this role over the last two years.

Recognising that our research and advocacy activities remain on point, I would like to remind you to participate in any and all of our data gathering projects. The 2025 ENGAGE National Supervision Survey is like a megaphone for you to share your views and guide our focus to encompass the things that matter to YOU: please don’t rely on others to share what you are experiencing or observing. The more participants we have in our research studies, the more effectively we can shape a future for general practice supervision that meets your needs. We are currently progressing the mentorship of women supervisors in response to member input, which you or your colleagues may consider joining, and will continue to share new opportunities with you as we continue to innovate in this space.

The education team will continue to review existing resources and add new ones to streamline the delivery of supervision; if you have any areas or topics that you want tackled, please let us know. I am looking forward to supporting my co-supervisor in practice, who has only recently taken this on formally, and sharing both the GPSA resources that I have previously enjoyed and the new ones we launch this year.

My personal goal for 2025 is to highlight supervision and ensure that those of you who supervise in any capacity, formal or otherwise, own it with pride and cautious optimism. Whether you supervise in a community practice or in the hospital setting, and whether you supervise any trainee from medical students to GPs who are developing a special skill or interest… Yes, we are all generous and giving, for it is in the nature of the Guru to be all that and more.

So as the start of a new term approaches, let me challenge you this year with two words this time. Two words that may seem similar yet have a significant nuanced difference too: knowledge and wisdom, “Akal and Gyaan”. While they may appear similar, the true power lies not just in acquiring of knowledge and testing it, but in the experience of applying it and learning to translate it into results, so it transforms into wisdom. The challenge lies in ensuring both our knowledge and wisdom is passed onto those whom we supervise and those who follow us.

So as you get ready with the practical aspects – contracts, setting up a new doctor in your electronic systems, welcome pack and orientation, adjusting your own schedules to fit in as many workplace based assessments as this year demands –, I hope you take a moment to acknowledge the timeless impact of the tasks you are taking on, and let yourself appreciate the moments of joy these may have brought you. It is my prediction that they will bring you many such moments in the coming year too.

Dr Srishti Dutta
Chair

Date reviewed: 31 December 2024

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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From the Chair...

Our only limit is our imagination...

We are almost at the halfway mark in this Year of the Dragon – a zodiac sign represented by the infinity symbol… signifying endless possibilities, and the energy we send out into the universe coming back to us.

May ended with quite an exciting few days in which I, along with GPSA’s CEO Carla Taylor and COO Leonie Chamberlain, had the occasion to capture some of the really great energy sent out by delegates and exhibitors at the RACGP Practice Owners Conference in Cairns.

Amongst those sharing the good vibes were former GPSA Chairs, Nicole Higgins, Bruce Willett, Trish Baker, and last year’s Deputy Chair Madhu Tamilarasan. We are truly fortunate that this membership organisation of ours has evolved through the efforts of such a dedicated collection of GPs, and doubly blessed to have a current Board whose broad range of skillsets and passion keeps GPSA committed to building on the values and mission of those who preceded us.

Attending industry conferences is a great way to network with like-minded people and keep abreast of new innovations, research outcomes and any changes in our professional landscape. For GPSA, conferences are a fabulous way to connect with our members, to listen and learn from their stories, to offer our support and share our resources such as the newly drafted “Guide for Practice Managers New to Vocational GP Training” into which we’re asking members to provide input* in a model of co-design. For you, by you… does this remind you of the dragon’s infinity symbol?!

The real reward the GPSA team gets from participating in these conferences comes in the form of members sharing their appreciation for and ongoing use of our services and best practice educational tools like our webinars and teaching plans – these apparently being closely followed by our convenient SCENARIO app!

The goal I had set myself for the Cairns conference was to meet at least one supervisor younger than me – and you’ll be pleased to learn I actually found more than one! The fact the first young supervisor I spoke to was participating in a Single Employer Model (SEM) pilot was even more of a boon. While these pilots were a hot topic at the Practice Owners Conference, “payroll tax” was the phrase on everyone’s lips! Rural and urban GPs, especially those who own their practice share one core concern though: how will they be able to sustain the serve they provide their community into the future.

The question I have fielded most in the last 8 months comes from potential supervisors wanting to know when they can be accredited to take on AGPT registrars. My answer is guided by College accreditation policies that are in turn responsive to the environment in which we find ourselves today, namely with some 1,000+ training-accredited practices in surplus of demand. Until AGPT registrar numbers balance out this situation, I ask all those who are keen to be involved in training to please consider taking on medical students. The latest MDANZ report suggests a further drop in medical students choosing general practice – admittedly explained by the uptick in the rural generalist interest, but still suggesting the; let us show them what general practice has to offer by giving them a great experience in their placement.

While we are progressing the NTCER review with the goal of completing a full re-write in time for the 2025.1 placement process, there are still plenty of opportunities for everyone involved in the supervision of registrars – on each and every pathway – to contribute via the NTCER survey and stage-2 workshops**. Our aim is to ensure the NTCER is enhanced to strengthen the relationship between the practice, supervisor and registrar by taking out the confusion and frustration in sites hosting trainees across multiple pathways and under different conditions such as ADF registrars training in the practice under a secondment arrangement (similar to what’s emerging with SEM pilots). Your input into this process is essential to achieving a practical and effective tool that can help streamline in-practice training and continue to be future-focussed.

June promises to include lots of opportunities for us to network and explore issues of importance for our members, kicking off with the GPME conference at which Drs Simon Morgan and Jess Wrigley will be launching GPSA’s fun new supervision tool, the Consultation game – a physical board game we know you will want to get your hands on… and maybe let your trainees play too! Simon is giving you a sneak peak of this brand new innovation in his June Education Update (see the image under the Webinars heading in the June newsletter!). Then I will be representing GPSA at the WildHealth Burning GP conference mid-month; and the following week GPSA will be in Brisbane for the annual face to face meeting of the SLO Advisory Council and a member networking night on Friday 21st June. If you can join us, please register now – these events are a lot of fun!

Until next month, I leave you with this quote from a family favourite, How To Train Your Dragon: “The sky is not the limit, our imaginations are.

Dr Srishti Dutta, Chair

*Please email PMlead@gpsa.org.au with your suggestions / comments regarding the draft “Guide for Practice Managers New to Vocational GP Training”

**Please email Carla to register your interest in participating in the June  NTCER workshops. 

Date reviewed: 04 November 2024

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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From the Chair...

It sure has been a busy month or so - no doubt if you’re looking after a new trainee, you will be feeling this along with me!

I hope it’s a been a good start to the training year for you, and want to remind you that, whenever guidance might be needed, you are not alone. 

At the vocational training level, your College supports include your local SLO and relevant Regional Team member(s); complementing these, regardless if you are involved in placements for medical students, prevocational doctors or vocational registrars, GPSA offers the Community platform as a supervision intranet of sorts, where you can seek help from your peers and brainstorm solutions for emerging problems. 

We also provide advice via email for all things NTCER, registrar onboarding and supervision support, along with regular educational webinars and over 1,000 best practice resources and digital tools.

Supervisors and practice managers in GP training form a vital community of practice, and February was marked by many of our sector partners releasing pre-budget submissions that paid homage to this community: aligning with GPSA’s priorities of recognition, reward and respect for our members.

We actively seek cross-portfolio recognition and reward for training practices and supervisors and commend all stakeholders who have used the platform of their own pre-budget submissions to argue the need for greater support of all parties at the coalface of GP training. This includes the RACGP’s calls for improved funding of GPT1, when significant trainee support is provided by supervisors, as well as training programs like FSP and PEP – which need to be sufficiently funded to allow consistent quality of training and supervision for all GPs in-training across the country.

I firmly believe that the increasing burdens and complexity of healthcare delivery, coupled with the worldwide shortage of medical workforce, make a collaborative focus on developing high quality “medical generalism” the only true solution for our communities. Strengthening and supporting placement experiences for optimum learning of these generalist skills is essential for a robust, effective future workforce. The breadth of knowledge and skills we command and convey through GP supervision is the bedrock of our health system, such that every training practice is a workshop where the next generation of GPs is crafted with a commitment to quality.

With the power in the hands of our members when it comes to the delivery of high quality placements, for the last 10 months GPSA’s research team has been tackling the gargantuan task of developing a tool to support benchmarking and quality improvement in GP training. Based on the best practice framework known as the General Practice Clinical Learning Environment (GPCLE), this tool now needs your input. As a supervisor of both medical students and GPs in-training, I am keen to contribute to the refinement of this innovative tool, and I encourage every member, everyone – educators, supervisors and practice team members – involved or aspiring to be involved in GP training across all educational levels, to test and provide your feedback on the GPCLE tool to ensure it serves as a fit-for-purpose resource to maximise the power you have in the future-proofing of primary healthcare.

Until next month… may the force be with you!

Dr Srishti Dutta
Chair

Date reviewed: 04 November 2024

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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From the Chair...

Prestige, pay, and recognition

I write this Chair report hoping that you have all had a great holiday period and returned to your workplaces reinvigorated and refreshed. It’s February already, a month of this year already gone – a month that has seen us acknowledge some of the positive trends emerging after a full year of College led training.

For me, this year started with a long-awaited trip to see my family, visit my roots, and reflect on my early exposure to community physicians in the small town where I was born. This certainly set the tone for me to meet with the new GPSA Board to strategise as we did mid-January – with new ideas and energised minds – about what promises to be an exciting year ahead.

The most recent statistics show an increased interest in vocational GP training, notably with rural generalist positions fully subscribed. This has not been achieved without a lot of hard work, and GPSA is honoured to advocate for the supervisors who remain an integral part of growing this workforce through the quality of the experience they provide, irrespective of where they may be located. January has also seen the recognition of several GPSA members on the Australia Day Honours list. I invite you to join me in congratulating:

  • Dr Jeff Robinson, OAM;
  • Dr Christine Longman, OAM;
  • Prof Charlotte Hespe, AM; and
  • Dr Suzanne Harrison, OAM: Co-Chair of the SLO Advisory Council

This year we hope to build on the existing work that our members do in the community as both GPs and supervisors: community consultants and leaders. As we move towards formal recognition of the rural generalist sub-specialty, it is worth considering the role of the supervisor in general practice through the RG lens. Supervisors provide the hands-on guidance, teaching, training and management advice that would be provided by Consultants in the hospital context. It is only through our supervision role that a sustainable future GP/RG workforce can be developed; it is our influence over the learning experience that inspires the GPiT to become a GP/RG, and from there, a future supervisor.

In the GPSA pre-budget submission, we seek the value of supervision to be recognised through a more collaborative mindset both within primary care and across potential funding sources. While various solutions are at play to attract medical students and junior doctors to general practice, the ability to capitalise on these initiatives for the long-term benefit of our communities relies on the continued commitment of both existing and future supervision teams. This commitment in turn relies on respect for the critical role our members play, taking the form of an increase in remuneration and prestige, and greater recognition within our wider GP community as well.

In coming months, prevocational exposure to general practice will significantly increase across urban, outer metro and rural regions, with expanded medical student placements soon to follow. While this has the potential to spark the youngest and brightest minds into action as our future colleagues and the problem solvers of the next generation, the success of this opportunity will be commensurate with the level of support and empowerment provided to the training practices and supervisors responsible for cultivating medical students, prevocational doctors and vocational trainees into the autonomous, patient-centred healthcare professionals our communities need. It all starts with recognition.

And this report ends with recognition too – specifically recognising the amazing contribution of one individual known to and responsible for inspiring so many across this sector and beyond. As the first semester of 2024 kicks off, the life and legacy of Prof Dennis Pashen – Founder and Former President of ACRRM; Former President of RDAA; Rural Generalist; Supervisor; passionate supporter and member of GPSA – will be celebrated in a memorial that befits the life work of a premier advocate for community healthcare. May Prof Pashen long be remembered as a driver of change.

Dr Srishti Dutta
Chair

Date reviewed: 04 November 2024

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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