August CDT Activity Roundup – GTAC, PSIG, CPAC + Trainee Forum

AMA General Practice Training Advisory Committee

G-TAC would like to welcome its newest representatives to the team - Betty Ge, James Kolb, Caroline Powers, Ameer Shehab and Leigh Sheppard. 

With the transition to College Led Training looming, there has been a lot of uncertainty and concern amongst GP registrars around potential changes to how and where registrars are allocated to placements across Australia. G-TAC were the first to put their hands up and ask RACGP and ACRRM the tough questions around this issue at the most recent workshop for Transition to College Led Training. 

Whilst there were assurances provided by both colleges and the Department of Health that rural placements would not be mandated, G-TAC will continue to monitor for issues that may arise and advocate for its GP registrar members throughout the transition process in 2023 and beyond. 

Further to this, G-TAC is actively advocating for a much-needed pay increase for GP registrars, to be more in line with hospital registrars. We’ve been holding meetings with the Department of Health and been working closely with the AMA’s own economic research team to present a solution for the issue. 

Our committee is currently seeking new members to represent NT, SA, Queensland and Tasmania. If you’re a current GP registrar or newly fellowed GP in the last year and these issues resonate with you, please reach out to G-TAC co-chairs Dr Michael Hand or Dr Dana Phang, we would love to hear from you. 

AMA Policy Advisory Committee

CPAC meets every two months and is led by Chair Dr Bhavi Ravindran and Deputy Chair Dr Rob Thomas. The Policy Advisory Committee have completed two position statement updates due be released shortly. The position statements were ‘Entry Requirements for Vocational Training’ and ‘Competency Based Medical Education.’ The Policy Advisory Committee is currently working on an additional position statement on building capacity for clinical supervision. 

Prevocational Special Interest Group

PSIG co-chaired by Dr Balakavitha B Pillai and Dr Hayden Cain advocates for pre-training registrars variously known as unaccredited prevocational registrars. PSIG is calling for the accreditation of service registrars ensuring safe and equitable outcomes for registrars and their consumers. This has recently included using Medical Training Survey data to compare outcomes experienced by unaccredited and accredited registrars. PSIG is also involved with the National Medical Workforce Strategy Service Registrar Working Group.  

Trainee Forum Communique 

The Communique for the last Trainee Forum held on Thursday 11 August is now available. The Trainee Forum discussed college initiatives to support trainee wellbeing. You can read our communique here.