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Dr Sue Harrison, OAM shares insights into Supervision
We congratulate Sue on being recognised in the 2024 Australia Day Honours List for her service to rural medicine.
Dr Sue Harrison, a rural generalist in Echuca and one of ACRRM’s founding fellows, has been a GP and Visiting Medical Officer (VMO) in Echuca and Moama (Victoria/NSW) for the past 40 years. In addition to her experience in clinical work as a GP and GP Anaesthetist, Sue is also senior lecturer for the University of Melbourne RCS and engaged with remote supervision of a RVTS registrar and occasional GP locums.
Sue talked with GPSA about her contribution to supervision, and more.
When did your involvement with supervision begin?
Sue has a made a valuable contribution to the training and supervision of our future workforce. This began over two decades ago in rural general practice. The practice she worked at had a “supervisory team focus” managing learners at different levels. She took on a more active role in supervision when she became a practice owner.
What qualities are needed to be a good supervisor?
“I think that you need to have an interest in education and trained but I think you also need to have an interest in the people under your supervision as people individually. Where are we going? What are your goals? How can we help you to get there? How can we make this available placement for you? Those are the questions that I like to ask.”
“I try to make sure that I have an understanding of what their current curriculum is and what they’re actually trying to get out of the placement. The aim is to optimize the experience for the learner but also optimize the usefulness within the practice of having that person as an engaged learner so that they’re actually contributing to the practice team.”
Why is quality supervision so important for trainees?
“I think it’s important that students or learners feel safe with what they’re doing in the practice. My experience over the last 25 years is that students are probably less experienced and less well ready for practice. As such, by the time they get to General Practice they often haven’t had as much clinical experience as I would have expected someone who was trained 25 years ago to have. So, supervisors have to be quite cognizant that sometimes they need a bit more hand-holding to get to a place where they feel safe in that independent practice environment.”
Can you share a highlight that you’ve had in your role supervising either medical students or other learners?
“An ongoing highlight for me is when I have the opportunity to work with people who I supported during their training, and they remember the time they spent with me positively. Sometimes that had a big influence on their career decision making.”
“I’m especially thrilled to be working with other rural generalist doctors whose training I’ve been involved in and to see them working in, or working as, a rural generalist throughout Australia.”
“Rural doctors make enormous investments into education and supervision which has positive flow on affects to the communities they work in.”
“An aspect of the rural community that I’ve been especially proud of is that some young doctors have taken up the baton of rural medical politics and advocacy. In particular, Dr Megan Belot, immediate past-president of RDA, who I have mentored and have a long-lasting friendship with. Also, my daughter, Dr Emily Harrison, who is now on the Board of RDA and a Council Member with ACRRM. I am so proud that they’ve taken up these voluntary roles and that their passion about rural medicine has resulted in such big commitments.”
What would you like to say to Australia’s supervisors?
“I have four messages for supervisors and the supervision sector:
– Call for integrated supervisor training
“Firstly, I’d like to call for the organisations who support learning in general practice – so the colleges and those in the prevocational space and medical schools – to recognize that supervision training is important, but that GPs don’t need to do a separate lot of supervision training for each of those organisations. I believe these organisations should work together to provide the training and updating rather than mandate that it’s duplicated for every environment. I strongly believe the organisations concerned should get together an cooperate.”
– Supervisor PD
“In my role as Victorian SLO with ACRRM, I’m advocating that we make it as easy as possible for our supervisors to stay engaged with ongoing professional development in the supervision space.”
– Engage younger colleagues
“The next thing I would say is to engage your younger colleagues with supervision early in the piece, even as a registrar, to start letting them see that that it’s an important part of their role as a doctor. So, looking at opportunities for vertical integration of training within practices.”
– Spend some time getting to know learners and trainees.
“I encourage supervisors to spend time to get an idea of who this learner is and where they’ve come from. Even if each learner’s medical knowledge is the same, there are going to be different things they need assistance with. I need to know who this person is where they come from and what are they hoping to get out with us and for their career progression. What can we do to make this day as useful to you as possible whilst of getting the work done? This approach gives me a level of safety in my current hospital roles. Knowing that this person has just arrived from a city hospital this week and has been doing rotations in great big teams where the work is less hands on, and now I’m asking them to actually step up to be a very active member of my team.”
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It just gets busier! Hi all, Carla and I have been very busy again since my pre-Easter report, but all the hard work is definitely paying off!
As mentioned in the previous few months, we have been meeting with various states and territories to insert the argument for quality supervision into their individual plans for Single Employer Model (SEM) pilots. With every jurisdiction doing things differently, we continue to have a particular affinity with the Tasmanian model, which is very strongly rooted in the goal of supporting the private model of general practice over increasing their numbers of hospital employees.
The Tasmanian team is even considering our preferred model, where the registrar might complete GPT1-2 (or RG equivalent) under the state Single Employer then transition to practice employment governed by the NTCER, allowing access to earnings against billings only when they have had time to acclimatise to the general practice environment and gained an understanding of how to bill correctly, etc. We have also floated this option by a number of sector stakeholders, government representatives from NT, WA and Queensland, and have started working with ACRRM to explore potential for other options to give senior RG registrars greater flexibility than traditional practice-based employment allows at the tail end of their training.
What seems key at present is that alternate models of registrar employment are coming, and we need to be open to ideas that may well change what we have built our business models around as training practice owners. Not all change is detrimental… But we are working very very hard to ensure that we as a community of practice have visibility over and a prominent voice in any decisions leading to change for our sector.
I implore you to please maximise the opportunities we offer for you to have a say in all that’s happening around us in the GP training landscape. Activate your free membership to the GPSA Community Platform and join a Community Group (or 10)! Take a few minutes to complete the National Supervision Survey, which feeds into our work on Advisory Councils for the Workforce Planning and Prioritisation organisations across the country as well as guiding our research, education and advocacy priorities. It is so important that we all contribute to the findings of this important survey. You can read more about this hereor contact our Director of Research & Policy, Dr Samia Toukhsati, with any queries here.
GPSA is committed to supporting the people and businesses that underpin the future of primary healthcare in this country. We are a sector conduit, a driver of innovation and quality, and an advocate for respect and recognition for this community. GPSA is not a group of Board members or the small team of employees who deliver educational interventions and resources, members supports, research and policy. GPSA is the community we serve… So don’t be a stranger!
Date reviewed: 24 June 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.
The Strengthening Medicare Taskforce Report has been described as outlining “a vision for Australia’s primary care system of the future”, recommending “significant changes to how primary care is funded and delivered to enable high quality, integrated and person-centred care for all Australians”.
Date reviewed: 24 August 2024
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Teaching Plan: Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) and Stroke
The teaching plan discusses the importance of recognising and responding to Transient Ischemic Attacks (TIA) and stroke, providing guidance for healthcare professionals on assessment and management. It emphasises the critical role of early detection, intervention, and supervision in improving patient outcomes.
For convenience, you can read through this resource here, or use the pdf tools at the top of the document to download and / or print the file.
Date reviewed: 13 February 2026
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General Practice Supervision Australia (GPSA) and General Practice Registrars Australia (GPRA) are happy to announce the conclusion of the biennial 2022 Review of the National Terms and Conditions for Employment of Registrars (NTCER).
Key NTCER amendments to be implemented across the next 4 training semesters (2023.1-2024.2) include:
Staggered 4% increase to minimum Base Rate (full details outlined in table below);
Extending Educational Release support for GPT3/CGT3 registrars;
Amending Educational Release to provide full-time parity for part-time registrars;
Strengthened focus on fatigue management through increase in allocated Administration Time;
Revised Preamble to emphasise the minimum nature of the terms and conditions under the NTCER, above which practices and registrars are free to negotiate for mutual benefit and according to commercial viability;
Replacing the Restrictive Covenant with a Non-Solicitation clause.
As the peak organisations charged with administering the NTCER, GPSA and GPRA have finalised this review as it began – with collaboration, mutual respect, and a positive outlook. Both organisations recognise there is more to be done and will press ahead with advocacy for increased support and investment in the future of primary health care.
The main win for both organisations is the relationship forged through the underpinning principles GPRA and GPSA set for this review process in July 2022:
1) Models of employment for GP registrars across Australia need to be fair and equitable, delivering working conditions and remuneration that compares with other specialist trainees while taking into account the context of training practices;
2) General practice is a rewarding medical specialty and an attractive vocational pathway for junior and/or pre-vocational doctors;
3) GP trainees and GP supervisors are equally desirous of and entitled to a quality training experience;
4) GPRA and GPSA, as the recognised national peak bodies representing all GP registrars, GP supervisors and GP training practices, have a critical role in advising all levels of government on all matters of relevance to the GP training sector;
5) Appropriate support and funding for GP supervisors and GP training practices is crucial for the sustainability of the nation’s primary health system, which in turn underpins the nation’s wider healthcare system.
As part of this process, future collaborations between GPSA and GPRA on a variety of projects have been agreed, including the co-development of:
A Fatigue Management Policy;
Employment contract templates;
Resources to assist practice managers overseeing the employment of GP or RG registrars;
FAQs for registrars and practices;
A shared benchmarking process to inform future biennial NTCER reviews.
Recognising the need to minimise the impact on training practices in the current climate, agreement has been reached to stage base rate and administration changes across the next 4 training semesters, leading into the next review period in Semester 2 of 2024. A summary of these changes and their timing is included below:
Implementation of Changes to NTCER by Training Semester
Where GPT3s have mandated workshop requirements during standardly rostered hours, these will be included as paid time by practice (unless on a weekend or after hours)
Restrictive covenant (clause 17)
Clause to be removed from NTCER and replaced with non-solicitation of patient and staff
Parity for part-time registrars re educational release(clause 9.2)
Training practices to provide part-time GP trainees educational release in parity with full-time GP trainees
Redrafted “Preamble” and “About the Agreement”
Updated to reflect staging of changes and new framework for biennial review
1% increase to minimum base rate on top of indexation
Next biennial review To be carried out under mutually agreed process and timeframe in 2024.2, with view to conclusion before recruitment for training placements commences (i.e. by September 2024 for 2025.1)
The updated NTCER Agreement is available for viewing and downloading here.
Date reviewed: 24 June 2025
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Why is GPSA concerned about the new payroll tax ruling in QLD?
Your say in whether the new QLD SRO ruling poses a threat for GP training
GPSA represents GP supervisors and training practices, without whom the future for the general practice specialty would be very bleak.
By extension, any threat to the profession that poses a threat to GPs who supervise, and the training practices that offer employment to registrars through their training, is of major concern to GPSA.
If this payroll tax threat results in a mass departure of GPs from the specialty, inevitably there will be a great many experienced GP/RG supervisors amongst them.
If registrars find themselves impacted by a shrinking pool of supervisors, extra pressure on practice workforce with departing GPs, and/or heightened tensions in the training practice as new structures and systems are rushed into place to mitigate the likely effect of the payroll tax ruling, this will undermine the sustainability of GP training and in turn the profession. So this is what is making GPSA concerned.
Through this rapidly-implemented, quick member survey, our goal was to give your individual voices the volume of this community of practice, loudly adding the unique and very important perspective to the College and AMA discussions with state and federal governments on this issue.
When the announcement came through that there’d be no retrospective application under a so-called ‘amnesty’, it could be argued that three minutes of your time made a mighty big difference.
Read here how your voice on this issue was interpreted in the ongoing media coverage.
Summary of Rapid Survey - January 2023
Date reviewed: 24 June 2025
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The transition of GP training from the RTOs to a College-led model has dominated sector conversations for what seems a very long time; however, with February just around the corner, time is fast running out to ensure we are all set for the new era of training.
Is this all we should be worried about?
It’s easy to be distracted by the negativity surrounding us, but I’m yet to meet a GP who took on the supervision of a registrar because it was “easy”. As supervisors, our role is to transfer our passion for quality and continuity of patient-centred care onto the next generation of GPs, regardless of political or economic pressures, major changes in the GP training model or even a little thing like a pandemic! This means we need to be focusing on solutions rather than being dragged down by the many challenges and threats the profession is currently facing. To this end, the power of one is real. You as an individual have a voice through GPSA: a voice given volume by this community of practice we are working to support through innovative networking opportunities underpinned by new and improved systems.
Right now, we are ensuring your voice is present in discussions about the transition, and in our review of the NTCER with GPRA. We are speaking on your behalf at sector stakeholder fora like the meetings of the General Practice Training Advisory Council (GPTAC) and the National Council of Primary Care Doctors (NCPCD), and frequent meetings with ACRRM, RACGP and the Department. We have also started working with the Workforce Planning and Prioritisation (WPP) organisations to contextualise their reports on training needs and capacity with your localised narratives; and we speak regularly with the CEOs of the RTOs to ensure nothing slips through the cracks in the transition, noting that GPSA has been offered the regionally-based training modules and other resources developed by these organisations so we can provide our members with ongoing free and open access to these valuable materials.
A big concern for us has been how GPSA can best support supervisors and practices to make the transition as seamless as possible and keep the sector focused on sustainability of the profession to guarantee continuity and stability in GP training. Taking our role of conduit quite literally, we have devoted a lot of our resources to providing you with regular transition updates via webinars, e-newsletters, social media and links on our website; we have also been madly reviewing new College policies, guidelines and handbooks specific to the supervision of vocational GP trainees, determined to minimise the burden on our members – and maximise the attractiveness of GP training – under the new regime.
We recognise our work in this space has only just begun, and will continue devoting significant time and energy throughout the next triennium to hold the Colleges to account as the new custodians of GP training in this country. But what we need in order to maximise our efforts going forward is your contribution, your questions and feedback and requests for our input. In 2023, we will be introducing a forum-based website to create easily accessed channels of communication for our members to connect with us, with the Colleges and DOHAC, but most importantly with each other. GPSA has a voluntary Board of Directors and a very small number of paid staff; we are a not-for-profit organisation that exists for the benefit of its members, so we really do need the connection with you we are planning for this new platform and implore you to be active in the community this will help to enhance.
In the meantime, we are still trying to get a solid handle on a few of the new concepts to better prepare you for 2023, like RACGP’s Work-Based Assessments (WBAs). At this stage we can confirm that the WBA program will be implemented progressively across 2023 and 2024. There will be a soft rollout of the program with the first assessment not due until the middle of the first GP term. The assessments are very similar to those currently being completed by supervisors in existing programs. The RACGP teams in each region will provide education and support for supervisors about the WBA program.
While we had a Q&A-style webinar on the National Consistent Payment (NCP) framework with DOHAC’s Martin Rocks in mid-November, we are only now being presented with how each College will apply the Flexible Funding that will top up the NCP payments. ACRRM will deliver a webinar with us on their Flexible Funding model on 15th December to explain their priorities and how supervisors, practices and registrars will be able to access these funds.
Still on the subject of webinars, if you’re one of the many struggling to register for practice / supervisor payments under the NCP (even after the two webinars GPSA ran in November, plus the FAQs we developed, to tackle the confusion), Services Australia has accepted our request to do a live walk-through of the PRODA and HPOS processes for our members, which we will of course record and make available for those who can’t attend. Carla is just awaiting confirmation of the date, but will make certain this happens this side of Christmas (and will let you know once this date is locked in).
So it’s not all doom and gloom in general practice, as we found in October at the ACRRM/RDAA RMA22 conference. For the 1500+ RACGP members in Melbourne for the last weekend in November, three years without large-scale face-to-face events made GP22 extra special too.
Current GPSA Chair Dr Kevin Arlett with former GPSA Chair (current RACGP President) Dr Nicole Higgins and former Board member Dr Alan Leeb at GPSA’s GP22 booth
Despite the temptation to wander further into the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre to check out the other conferences (one in particular), the turn-out was great and the energy high as we took the opportunity to chat within the same postcode and without the computer screens!
Amongst the many topics of interest at GP22, personally I’d rank CPD right up there. From 2023, the Medical Board of Australia (MBA) is changing CPD for all doctors, in all disciplines, across Australia. Moving from a points-based to a time-based model, three new CPD activity types will need to be covered in 50 hours per annum:
Educational activities (EA) that expand your knowledge and skills
Reviewing performance (RP) activities that encourage you to reflect on feedback about your work
Measuring outcomes (MO) activities that use your work data to ensure quality results
In response to these changes and our advocacy around reducing burdens for GP supervisors, the College is looking at opportunities for primary supervisors to have our supervision work recognised as significantly fulfilling the new MBA requirements in terms of CPD hours. We are also working with both Colleges to have participation in GPSA research and attendance of our webinars / workshops automatically applied as CPD, which will be helpful for secondary supervisors and anyone not supervising a registrar in 2023 too.
I can’t mention GP22 without acknowledging the GPSA team there with me – Carla Taylor (CEO), Leonie Chamberlain (COO), Jane McMahon (Admin), Karen Andrews (Governance), Lachlan Butcher (Member Services), Dr Samia Toukhsati (Research), Dr Simon Morgan (Education), Dr Justin Coleman (my fellow Board member) and Dr Nicole Higgins (my predecessor!). If watching Nicole step into the role of President at the RACGP AGM was an honour, I’ve yet to find the words to describe how it felt to listen to Simon and Justin hammering out the crowd favourites as members of the all-doc band at the conference dinner!
As December kicks in, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and a rewarding, enjoyable, stress-free New Year.
Date reviewed: 24 June 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.
The RACGP Education Research team invites you to join a focus group discussion about RTO-led best practices in general practice training to ensure they’re not lost in the transition.
You’ll be compensated for your time with $150 via PayGP.
Discussions will explore practices and programs you’ve found effective in supporting training and preparing trainees for independent practice.
Research aims and objectives
We’re hoping to capture what’s working well, what could be strengthened and what’s possible moving forward.
The project will inform the future directions of GP training in relation to trainee recruitment and retention, and the trainee-supervisor/employer relationship.
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.
In our negotiations with RACGP, ACRRM and the Department of Health, the basic principle of GPSA has been that;
No supervisor should be worse off under the new system
No practice should be worse off under the new system
No registrar should be worse off under the new system
Supervisors should have equal pay for equal work
Supervisor payments should be lifted to the highest rate of the currently applied payments ($150ph) for in-practice teaching
Supervisor payments have barely increased in the last 20 years and supervision comes at a cost to both the supervisor and the practice. Practice payments are only a part subsidy, haven’t kept up with inflation nor reflect the true cost of hosting a registrar in the practice.
Supervisors want equal pay for equal work.
A nationally consistent model should pay all supervisors and practices the same. We have recommended loadings for rurality and complexity.
What concerns me is that;
Supervisors and training practices could be worse off. We could be the “losers” in the transition to Profession Led Training. We have heard that some supervisors could be paid substantially less at a figure of $120 p/h.
For example this is a $30 p/h drop for South Australian supervisors. This is not acceptable.
Nothing about us without us. Supervisors were invited to contribute to initial discussions but the decision about how much and for what, will be decided on by DoH and the colleges.
So, what is the trade off for reduced value and less pay? – workforce
This lever is being used because it is thought that training practices and supervisors will take less money in exchange for having a registrar at a time of workforce shortage. With the supply of overseas trained doctors reduced and a maldistribution of registrars, many practices in regional and rural areas depend on registrars to ensure that their community has continued access to a GP and for business continuity.
Click this link for GPSA’s submission to the Department of Health.
So, will you continue to supervise registrars if you are not valued and paid less?
I value your thoughts about your future as a supervisor. I can be emailed at chair@gpsa.org.au
Yours in training,
Dr Nicole Higgins
Date reviewed: 24 June 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.
