About Us
Who we are
Advocacy
Research and policy
SLOs
Contact Us

From the Chair...

"Wisdom is knowing what to do next. Skill is knowing how to do it. Virtue is doing it."

Thomas Jefferson’s definition of wisdom or “sagacity” (hopefully this word has you thinking of a sage who has guided you along your personal journey) highlights the need to combine knowledge and experience, knowing and doing.
In Inuit tradition, developing wisdom is the aim of teaching; and a person is wise when they can discern what needs to be done and do it successfully without being told to do so.

This month’s newsletter includes an article showcasing the sagacity of GPSA’s Deputy Chair, Dr Frank Maldari, whose insights have been fundamental to the GPSA Board throughout and prior to my term as a Director: please take a few minutes to enjoy this read. As an experienced GP, supervisor and mentor, Frank has supported peers and GPs-in-training in many ways – including through his role as SLO – and I for one am most grateful for his guidance and support.

The past month has again been a flurry of activities, with ongoing focus on bringing to our members and the sector a revised NTCER which is future-focused, sustainable, and updated with contemporaneous legislative requirements. We have been working through this extensive process with GPRA with the goal of having the new version of the NTCER Agreement ready for the 2025.1 placement processes. An immense amount of work has gone into this endeavour, and I would like to thank every GPSA member who has contributed to the review process via the survey, working parties and our negotiation party.

Another focus which created an extra bit of work for Carla and me was the College Presidential elections. We had a great time interviewing all of the candidates for RACGP and ACRRM to give our members a bit more insight into their views on the role of supervisors and practice-based GP training, and I am genuinely excited about the future for both GP specialty Colleges given the passion we uncovered. I would of course like to take this opportunity to extend my congratulations to Dr Michael Wright on his election to RACGP President, and Dr Rod Martin on his election to ACRRM President. I look forward to working and actively collaborating with both of these experienced GPs. This serves as a reminder that the election season for our sector is not yet over, with other representative roles for organisations coming up soon, and GPSA’s AGM and Board election at the end of November.

The GPSA education team continue to provide education support to our members and the most recent webinars that were of particular interest for me were around two integral parts of training that have been retained into current times – providing feedback and how to make the most of ECT visits. The former was also of interest as I had seen Dr Davies present her RACGP Future Leaders project at the GP22 conference, in the session where I too had been a contributor and was keen to learn more. The latter was designed to help integrate the roles of both supervisor and ECT visitor that I personally find very rewarding. I hope you were able to attend and if not, they remain accessible on GPSA’s YouTube channel.

I continue to support additional collaboration with other GP-focussed education and research partners to continue to bring you education and learning opportunities which keep your knowledge up to date and allow you to best share your wisdom with the trainees you support in your learning practices.

The most recent wisdom on learning I have seen is quite that highest form of learning in unlearning. We have seen some robust discussions and conversations around use of innovative technology including generative AI in our practices and certainly initial feedback looks positive in terms of improving quality of interaction with our patients and managing cognitive and administrative burden in our daily tasks. While the RACGP has published its guidance to all its members in this regard, we will be seeking further clarification on how this might specifically translate into the training context. In the meantime, I would recommend utilising a combination of an appraisal of your expertise with a generative AI tool, your trainee’s foundational competency in consultation skills, their willingness to use AI, the value they may ascribe to it, and then assessing its safety through discussion with them: as we would in many similar situations in our clinical practice in terms of shared decision making. For some of us, it is an opportunity to evaluate our learning skills as much as our teaching and supervision skills until more guidance becomes available. Patient and registrar safety remains paramount.

The GPSA team and I are looking forward to the last quarter of this year as we will be present at and contributing at many of the conferences where we are expecting to see a lot of our members – AAPM, RMA, Prevocational Forum, GP24, AIDA (PriDOC). I am always keen to meet you and hear from you via any platform or channel you feel is accessible for you. Every conversation and interaction allows me to better advocate and represent your needs and those of the roles and responsibilities we fulfill as GP supervisors and practice managers in training sites.

I will end with a quote from another family favourite and a wise sage for sure, Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets:

“It is not our abilities that show what we truly are… it is our choices.”

Dr Srishti Dutta
Chair

Return to September newsletter

Date reviewed: 30 August 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.

This website uses cookies. Read our privacy policy.
About Us
Who we are
Advocacy
Research and policy
SLOs
Contact Us

From the Chair...

“There is no absolute truth”… or is there?

The human brain that remains curious for longer learns more, and discovers more. It knows that wicked problems need more than simple solutions or potential magic bullets. It struggles with contradictions and paradoxes.  And it rejects antinomies.
Antinomy: a real or apparent mutual incompatibility of two notions, a contradiction in our own knowledge system, within our reason itself. Not being aware or being unable to acknowledge these antinomies can generate false understanding and contradicting theories.

In the current environment, critical thinking and wisdom are more important than ever.

The fundamental truth of our current primary care system and apprenticeship model is that, regardless of the funding models we do or don’t apply, without supervisors’ contributions it would all disintegrate. Irrespective whether the learner is a medical student, post graduate doctor or GP-in-training, the one constant is the experienced senior GP who offers their expertise to provide individualised guidance, teaching, mentorship and support - this supervisor in turn being supported by a team that helps create and sustain the training site as a quality learning environment.

The supervisor is the one constant across learner levels, standards and outcomes; yet it is the supervisor who has to adapt and change the most to meet the learner’s needs, and the training provider’s requirements, with every individual placement.

The last year or so has seen increased training numbers. While this may have been greater in rural areas and across certain pathways, we know that access to and sustainability of future workforce goes beyond just vocational training to supporting the pipelines leading to general practice and rural generalism. Yet again there is an expectation not only from our profession and peers but also our funders that we, supervisors and training sites, continue to volunteer considerable resources to scaffolding medical students and prevocational trainees. This comes at a time when the sustainability of general practice remains a challenge, as evidenced by the increasing number of practices closing around the country. Although an integral part of every learner’s needs, clinical supervision continues to be unremunerated. Thus a role that comes with clinical accountability and potential reputational risk for any practice or training site, a role that is central to the perpetuation of our profession, remains altruistically-powered (less by choice than need) for the overwhelming majority.

The Board and team of GPSA are all too aware of the challenges and responsibilities our members face. We remain committed to being responsive to your needs and supporting you in all possible ways. This year again our research team has been working tirelessly on the development of systems and structures that best empower supervision teams through evidence-backed innovation.  The education team continues to develop more webinars and resources to help you deliver educational supervision with excellence at its heart. In addition to Scenario – our first mobile app – along with its corresponding learner-facing app, ScenarioEd, this team now brings you Consultation! The Board Game, which had a successful international launch in Wellington at this year’s general practice conference celebrating the RNZCGP’s 50th anniversary.

Like you, we are largely unfunded for what we do: all of which is for you, our members. We are unique in our provision of open access resources, and we remain committed to continuing to share our content for free for the benefit of the broader community, and equally committed to keeping membership free for all Australians involved in GP training. Shoring up the sustainability of GPSA so we can continue to deliver the calibre of support you deserve is naturally one of our key priorities; your purchase of our apps and game will help ensure GPSA can continue to represent and support you into the future.

Our future focus also extends to exploring sponsorships and partnering opportunities with organisations who share our values. This last is part of our goal of ensuring any emerging areas of clinical practice and learner perceived needs can be addressed with confidence by our valued members.

How we work on your behalf in terms of our stakeholder engagement and advocacy efforts takes numerous forms. While some of this advocacy occurs behind closed doors and over many conversations across a variety of settings, our goal is singular: to ensure that your interests do not get buried under other pressing priorities and demands placed on this sector. I want to assure you that your priorities continue to be prosecuted even when some of the issues highlighted earlier in the year have still not been announced as resolved. This is quite frankly because we have either met with relative deafness from sector partners pursuing their own political agendas or encountered unexpected environmental changes requiring additional time to navigate.

The GPSA team and I have invested more than 4 months establishing our member priorities for the NTCER review and the future of GP training via the national annual survey, the NTCER survey, the NTCER working groups, networking events, conferences, the Community platform and the many one-on-one conversations we have had. I remain confident that we have heard from across the full and diverse membership of GPSA, and am grateful that so many of you have been keen to offer solution-focussed and innovative ways to tackle the problems we face. We will continue to raise these insights with other member organisations, training providers and our funders. In addition, we remain involved in other discussions including the various SEM trials occurring across the country, always determined to ensure inclusion of the supervisor voice. We continue to support the SLO Advisory Council too, under the able leadership of its Co-Chairs – Drs Sue Harrison, Tim Chappell and Candice Baker -, facilitating their conversations with both colleges on topics such as dual accreditation of supervisor PD, improved communication, access to regional supervision teams, and proactive measures to support an optimum training experience.

As we start to gear up for the next round of placements in the AGPT space, we encourage training sites to continue to offer as much as is viable by way of both financial and non-financial supports. The NTCER is a minimum set of national terms and conditions, which a great many of you have indicated you already surpass in varying degrees to show the value you place on your future colleagues and potential practice partners. Through the ongoing NTCER review process, we have learnt about the wide range of ways practices offer meaningful support for their trainees over and above the required minimum, including additional exam practice sessions run by volunteer GPs, and personal finance training and assistance delivered by our phenomenal practice managers in their own time. This confirms my belief that the values that drive GP supervision remain enshrined and safe, capable of weathering any pressures or changes to the external environment. I salute your commitment and resilience.

As the Chair of the GPSA Board, I understand that we may all be facing up to the same storm, but we are not all in the same boat. Our role as a membership organisation is to support the entire fleet, including looking after the smallest and the biggest ships through a lens of equity, so each can do their best and sail together. We represent otherwise unassociated individuals and businesses, and do so with humility and respect for all each of you offer to ensure quality health outcomes through high quality training.

This time I leave you to ponder over one of my favourite movie quotes, from of all things the Disney animation ‘Bambi’:

“Life is all about perspective” (not just perception).

Dr Srishti Dutta
Chair

Return to August newsletter

Date reviewed: 30 August 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.

This website uses cookies. Read our privacy policy.
About Us
Who we are
Advocacy
Research and policy
SLOs
Contact Us

From the Chair...

Change is the only constant... Or is it?

It was almost 15 years ago when, at the orientation day of a vocational training scheme not unlike the AGPT, a speech delivered by the Director – who was himself a GP – doused the enthusiasm of a room full of largely female trainees with two messages of doom:

  • that we would be impacted by medical (specifically GP) unemployment, and
  • that most of the women in that room would have at least one pregnancy during training… and that he expected to be informed about it as soon as it occurred.

I can’t attest to the accuracy for the rest of the registrars who heard those words, but for at least for one person in that room those predictions were entirely incorrect. Hence I find myself here still: a GP unwilling to blithely accept all the negative predictions about our profession and the future GP workforce currently swirling around us.

While I may accept change is the only constant and adaptability a skill that we undervalue, I remain optimistic that GP supervisors and our trainees have plenty to contribute to the delivery of quality primary healthcare for our communities in the years to come. Change doesn’t always come in the forms we expect, nor is it always unwelcome; it is in fact an opportunity for us to make what is good even better.

The past month has seen me in many gatherings, with many opportunities to meet and engage with members, partners and stakeholders. The topics of discussion have ranged from the single employer model to the NTCER review, use of AI, medical education tips and peer support to name a few. There is wide acceptance of the inevitability of changes to come, however there is also a desire to hold on to things that matter to us: the collaborative nature of GP supervisors and medical educators, the ability to pass on business skills and help grow new practices, and most of all having fun while we do the things we each do best. This last was clearly demonstrated at the GPME conference on the Gold Coast, where GPSA’s Drs Simon Morgan and Jess Wrigley launched our newest education tool “Consultation!” – a fun, educational and at times frustrating board game that uncannily mimics a day in practice as the players navigate patient presentations and brain teasing challenges while racing each other to the tea room before all the cupcakes are gone! If you want to know more, please have a look at (link) and other learning resources on our website and in your mobile app store designed around the philosophy Justin Coleman refers to as “edutainment”: making GP training more enjoyable.

At the tail end of June, GPSA brought together your on-the-ground College representatives, the Supervisor Liaison Officers (SLOs), for the annual face-to-face meeting of the SLO Advisory Council. This meeting took place across 2 half-days in Brisbane, and included a really productive session with key members of each College’s leadership team including both RACGP President (and former GPSA Chair) Dr Nicole Higgins and ACRRM President Dr Dan Halliday. Another first, driven by GPSA’s MoU with GPRA, the second day started with a joint meeting of the two advisory councils representing the key participants in vocational training: the RACGP, ACRRM and RVTS SLOs and their registrar counterparts, the RLOs. This was a highly engaged, interactive session that spoke to the passion, commitment and alignment of both the two Advisory Council members as well as the two independent peaks committed to supporting them, and in turn you.

The next month will bring for these peaks further engagement as we enter into negotiations regarding the revision of the NTCER. GPSA will also continue to participate in broader training and supervision conversations such as the facilitation of higher quality supervision for pre-fellowship PGY1 and PGY2 trainees in community general practice, supporting practices and supervisors in the next AGPT placement process, and seeking clarity from the Colleges about timing of Semester 2 out-of-practice education so that practices can take back some control over their ability to plan and minimise the impact on their patients’ access to registrars. We encourage you to contact us and your SLOs with any concerns or issues that you might have to ensure your needs are voiced in our discussions with our sector partners and Commonwealth.

Until next time, I leave you with words that come from another of my favourite motion pictures (that’s “movies” for you younger folk):

“Change isn’t always bad. It’s just different.” – Chani (from “Dune”) 

Hopefully this reminds us that change, while often uncomfortable, really can lead to positive outcomes.

Dr Srishti Dutta
Chair

Return to July newsletter

Date reviewed: 30 August 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.

This website uses cookies. Read our privacy policy.
About Us
Who we are
Advocacy
Research and policy
SLOs
Contact Us

From the Chair...

Change not necessarily the only constant!

April 2024 has been a month of many significant days, extremes of celebration and tragedy, but there is one I would like to highlight in particular.

ANZAC Day is an opportunity to reflect on a great many things: sacrifice, courage, security, commitment, loss, solidarity, trauma… all having a lasting impact equally on loved ones and the community at large as on those who have contributed to our armed forces. GPSA is proud to support our peers who currently serve, those who have served, those who supervise ADF registrars, and those who care for our veterans and their families.

With Autumn in full gear now, May seems to be shaping up as a month of action for all of us in the supervision environment. Some of you will be completing mid-term reports for your registrars, others getting ready for the next round of placements, and hopefully we’re all keeping up with our professional development requirements too.

In my many travels and roles as a GP, I am repeatedly engaged in discussions about GPSA activities. This feedback from a supervisor peer who attended a webinar presented by Dr Simon Morgan and Dr Tim Chappell shows the impact our ongoing educational delivery has on our members:

“Thank you both for a very engaging seminar! I watched it because I am a supervisor but benefitted from it as a GP. Tim, you had me at “dementor” and “chocolate”….! I absolutely love my job and listening to what you shared, Tim, it articulated the “why”. It was just good to hear again about the importance of being a good listener, being in your patient’s corner, not giving up on them…. and smiling! As is the case in many places, there is a high demand for services (where I work) and a long wait time and I have wondered if I should be more “matter of fact” and a more efficient problem solver so as to be able to see more patients. But I think that one would then miss out on those nuggets of history that come forth with time, and also the meaningful doctor-patient relationships that we can have in our line of work.”

And these words from a registrar who had reached out in a time of difficulty shows the benefit of what GSPA’s focus on the “how” of supervision ultimately has on our trainees:

“I am at a new practice now – it is amazing what a difference a supportive supervisor can make. Feeling settled and now actually can start to learn.”

It is when we receive such feedback that I know our impact as supervisors goes well beyond supervision, and GPSA’s impact as the supervision peak truly is vital for the future of general practice.

GP training will continue to change, as will general practice. As part of this community of practice, we will have to evolve and keep up with the world around us, yet we can do so in the knowledge that the GSPA values shaped by the “why” and the “how” of supervision will remain a constant on which you can rely.

The other thing you can depend on is GPSA’s commitment to representing you faithfully in our stakeholder engagement, the future direction we are advocating for on your behalf, and in the priorities you share for the current review of the National Terms and Conditions for the Employment of Registrars (NTCER).

If you haven’t already done so, please take some time out to complete our National Survey for 2024. This is not an idle exercise. This really is your opportunity to influence future policy around a range of things including workforce, remuneration and recognition of supervision. The information we obtain from this survey helps us share the real issues at the coalface with policy makers and funders, emphasising what needs to change and what needs to stay the same. While this is of course the long term benefit, there’s a short-term one too! Completing “ENGAGE 2024 – Building a better future together” counts towards your CPD (RP) as an added bonus. This survey is open to everyone involved in GP training – supervisors, GPs, practice managers, practice nurses, and others who support learners in general practice.

For anyone who has been involved in registrar employment – terms, conditions, or contract oversight -, now is the time to help us maximise the opportunity to update this legally valid employment instrument. The inevitability of change applies in this area of GP training too, with other employment models being explored under the Single Employer Model pilots, but the NTCER remains relevant to the bulk of GPs-in-training, and we need your contribution to ensure its robustness and utility is maintained and possibly broadened to non-traditional contexts (i.e. beyond the employment of AGPT registrars). We’ve come up with a variety of ways for you to tell us what’s important, which key areas you would like addressed to ensure the next version of the NTCER is fit for purpose into the future. Let us know your views via the NTCER survey and/or by joining one of our member workshops or via email.

So until next month…

May the force be with you!

Dr Srishti Dutta
Chair

May 2024

Date reviewed: 30 August 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.

This website uses cookies. Read our privacy policy.
About Us
Who we are
Advocacy
Research and policy
SLOs
Contact Us

From the Chair...

Celebrating & Reflecting

March was certainly a month for celebrations and reflection – Harmony Day, International Women’s Day, Holi, St Patricks Day, Ramadan, World Compliment Day, International Day of Happiness, Lent and Easter….

Following the first meeting of the General Practice Training Advisory Committee (GPTAC) in Canberra at the tail end of the month, I can now share yet another reason for GPSA members to reflect and celebrate: the release of the AGPT Program National Report on the 2023 National Registrar Survey | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care.
For me, the key messages in this report reiterate the vital role the people at the coalface of GP training played in the successful transition to college-led training – and continue to play as the lifeblood of high quality primary care for the Australian community.

The satisfaction of registrars with our members has remained consistently high from 2017 to 2023. Indeed, the analysis by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) of over 1000 open-ended responses in the 2023 survey shows that more than 92% of registrars attributed the best aspects of their training experience to:

  • their current workplace or practice;
  • supervisor and mentor support; and
  • the diversity of patient presentations.

This feedback reinforces the value of GPSA’s commitment to facilitating a supportive and well-structured clinical learning environment for tomorrow’s GP workforce – through our ever-expanding repository of educational resources, our virtual community of practice, the GPCLE quality improvement tool we are currently refining, our upcoming biennial review of the National Terms & Conditions for the Employment of Registrars (NTCER), and even the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) recently signed between GPSA and our sister peak GPRA.

In all the many tables at which GPSA has a seat now, it is a true pleasure to highlight the role supervisors, practice managers and other members of training practices play in the success that we as a profession can claim today and into the future. My job as GPSA Chair is largely focused on advocating for you in your supervision of medical learners and trainees across the educational spectrum. I continually speak to both GP specialty colleges regarding topics our members flag as priorities, such as dual recognition of supervisor professional development and similar efficiencies to ensure minimisation of red tape and maximisation of well-being. To get this right though, we are reliant on your engagement and input.

To this end, you will soon receive an invitation to participate in the GPSA national survey – newly and aptly branded “ENGAGE”. I cannot stress strongly enough the importance of the information you provide through this data collection opportunity: the more you contribute to GPSA research such as this survey, the greater an investment we can make in your future growth and sustainability.

We will soon be launching into the NTCER review – which again is completely reliant on your input to ensure we represent your needs faithfully in this process. The NTCER remains a tool that provides protections for both training practices and registrars, and this year we are looking to enhance it and expand its application to non-traditional contexts such as vocational training pathways outside the AGPT. No doubt you have ideas about improvements at both a big picture and granular level, and we sincerely want to hear about these! Please submit your expression of interest here if you would like to be involved in workshopping the NTCER for 2025-26 with us.

Looking forward to working with you on the key activities lined up for April. Until then, as Yoda would say, “Pass on what you have learned”!

Dr Srishti Dutta
Chair

Return to April newsletter

Date reviewed: 30 August 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.

This website uses cookies. Read our privacy policy.
About Us
Who we are
Advocacy
Research and policy
SLOs
Contact Us

From the Deputy Chair...

The 'Santa Delusion' and reading the fine print

What an interesting year we have had with the transition to College-led training. This has gone remarkably smoothly at the coalface – with only a few hiccups along the way, probably fewer than expected – which has a lot to do with the resilience of GPs and practice teams.

I would like to express from all at GPSA the enormous admiration we have for GP supervisors and training practices across the country. Given GPSA’s membership consists of more than 7,000 supervisors and 3,000+ honorary members, you represent arguably the largest unrecognised charitable organisation in Australia.

The peak representatives of GP supervision – the Supervisor Liaison Officers (SLOs) – met in Sydney on 8th December 2023. SLOs from all states and the NT participated in this Advisory Council meeting, representing RACGP (AGPT and FSP), ACRRM (AGPT, IP and RGTS) and RVTS. The passion and commitment to GP training was readily palpable and augurs well for the future of GP training if supervisors are appropriately supported. The main issues facing GP Training were discussed in an open and frank meeting with Georgina Van de Water representing RACGP as well as ACRRM’s President Dr Dan Halliday and General Manager of Education Services, Kyra Moss. The key issues identified by SLOs were clearly presented so that there was no question about what was important to GP training and the desired outcomes.

All SLOs were on the same page: we have significant headwinds in GP training, and future health workforce is dependent upon these being clearly addressed to avoid further negative impact to the already perilous state in which we find general practice currently.

The main issues addressed in no particular order were: supervisor support and professional development, bi-College collaboration and interface, registrar caps, Single Employer Model (SEM), the importance of data to drive progress, placement processes , and , specifically for RACGP, the new EASL requirements.

Supervisor professional development (SPD) – which has simultaneously experienced a significant reduction in support and a progressive increase in requirements – runs along the same lines as GP continuing professional development (CPD)… increasing requirements of a profession in a dire situation. The unintended consequences of reduced participation and loss of quality supervisors are readily apparent. There is only so much supervisors can give, and the tank is running on empty.

Placement process and registrar caps – a challenge for everyone but probably more so for registrars with many horror tales out there about practices receiving either unmanageable numbers of applications… or none; and registrars and practices having 1 week to arrange interviews and finalise offers. It is a mixed story across the country, NSW has obviously had the most experience of this process, and it seems to have become a game of ignore the rules or risk not retaining a registrar. Anecdotally, it seems to have failed on the two key metrics of placement in best quality training practices or highest area of need.

SEM – the devil is in the detail. This seems to be a very hot issue with state Health Ministers across the country champing at the bit to get a piece of the action. Terms like “cost neutrality” and “control” of primary care workforce carry a sense of foreboding and beg the questions: who is paying the piper? who is missing out? It cannot be cost neutral when an extra layer of bureaucracy is installed without extra funding. Fortunately, we had some reports from members and SLOs on the nature of contracts being proposed in NSW which really reinforced the view that the devil is in the detail. Please, read the fine print.

RACGP’s Early Assessment for Safety and Learning (EASL) – dramatic increase in demand put on supervisors for a payment of… $Zero. There was reassurance that we do not necessarily need to review every consultation for the full 4 weeks and can make a determination earlier, but no funding for those who do require closer monitoring. I must confess that I am a strong supporter of the concept and many supervisors do undertake this process both as educational and risk management for the practice. Indeed, studies undertaken by Drs Simon Morgan and Gerard Ingham do highlight the number of errors early term GP registrars make, many minor but still a significant number of serious errors. Ideally, in my humble opinion, we should be funded to review all consultations for the first three months of a GPT1 registrar term with time set aside for face-to-face discussion, random case analysis, etc. This would greatly improve competency and patient outcomes especially in the areas of rational investigation and prescribing practices. I would argue that if we did the study and looked at the data it would end up surprisingly cost-effective across the wider health system.

Data is vital in our field, and I think the 2021 GPEx report to which GPSA contributed, “The financial costs and revenue associated with teaching and supervision in general practice”, should be on the Christmas Reading List for all Health Ministers, RACGP and ACRRM Boards.

Speaking of Christmas, I do believe in Santa Claus. I wrote him a letter before Christmas, and to my surprise I actually received the requested gift. I asked that, as GP supervision was fundamentally a charitable service, we should be given DGR status and tax exemption from the ATO. To my surprise, in my stocking on Christmas Day was a letter from the ATO confirming that all payments for GP supervision would become tax free and the repayment would be backdated for 20 years and to please find a refund cheque enclosed!! Then I read the fine print… you have never received any payment whatsoever for supervising GP trainees so enjoy your tax-free status on $Zero income!

I would be happy to pay tax on any income from supervision, which I would argue should come through an MBS item number for every phone call and patient review I (and all supervisors) undertake for our registrars.

GPSA is listening and batting strongly on all these issues for training practices and supervisors; I would ask that you all be forthright and vocal about any perceived challenges and instances of neglect in GP training through the year ahead. Your contribution is not only vital to your patients and communities today, but to the health of all Australians going forward.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year.

Frank Maldari

Return to January newsletter

Date reviewed: 30 August 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.

This website uses cookies. Read our privacy policy.