No time for consolidation!
While it kicked off with a webinar aptly entitled “How can GP supervisors better facilitate reflective practice in their registrars”, this conclusion to the financial year is typically a month of reflection and consolidation. Marking my second full year as GPSA CEO, June was anything but for this little organisation that could (and does!). Nope, we were madly burning the candles at both ends and clocking up the frequent flyer points from start to end with nary a moment of downtime among us!
June was in fact a prime example of the increased reach and impact GPSA has achieved on behalf of our members in the post-Transition world.
Chair Dr Srishti Dutta, Education Manager Dr Simon Morgan and Education Associate Dr Jess Wrigley spent the next few days on the Gold Coast with me at the annual conference of GPME Inc. Here we had the opportunity to gain a better understanding of the ME role and mindset, tapping into this with a whole lot of hilarity in a workshop launching the GPSA board game created by Simon and Jess, “Consultation!”
Along with the Scenario app, Consultation! adds to GPSA’s growing suite of innovative resources designed to enhance the experience of supervision for supervisors/educators and learners alike - and indeed learners at all points along the educational continuum. The value of tools for “edutainment” (education through entertainment) was the subject of a terrific GPME session hosted by former GPSA Director Dr Justin Coleman, and echoed around a room of seasoned supervisors a little later in the month at the annual face to face meeting of the national Supervisor Liaison Officer (SLO) Advisory Council coordinated by GPSA.
Between GPME and the SLO Advisory Council meeting, at the quarterly meeting of the Commonwealth’s General Practice Training Advisory Committee (GPTAC), GPSA and GPRA had the opportunity to update the sector about the work we’ve undertaken to date in the lead up to the formal negotiation process as part of the biennial review of the National Terms and Conditions for the Employment of Registrars (NTCER).
This is an incredibly important body of work that relies on the engagement of a membership cohort which has changed quite a bit from the inception of GPSA and the initial AGPT grant cementing our role in negotiating and maintaining the NTCER. Going back 20 years - or even 5 -, the make-up of our members looked a lot different to the mix of today’s 10,000-strong membership. Until only recently, our members were almost exclusively GP supervisors who were also the practice owners responsible for employing AGPT registrars in their businesses, and as such they had the skin in the game that warranted their well-considered contribution to GPSA’s surveys and working parties as part of the NTCER review. Today, our owner-supervisor members are in a 30:70 minority as fewer GPs take up the mantle of practice ownership. This is why the voice of the practice manager was so important to enshrine in the GPSA membership in the 2022 AGM, and on the GPTA Board in the 2023 AGM (when Mrs Leonie Chamberlain became the first practice manager to be elected as a Director alongside 6 supervisor members: 2 of whom are not owner-supervisors). Nevertheless, we thank the 600+ members who have taken the time to complete the NTCER survey and lend their voice through one or more of the 10 member workshops and 5 working party meetings over the last 3 months. It is an honour to represent you all in this process.
The second trip for me this month was back again to Queensland - Brisvegas this time - for the SLO Advisory Council meeting, which brought together the SLOs representing you from across Australia whether employed by RACGP, ACRRM or RVTS. After a closed-door meeting to share their experiences, concerns and solutions by region, these passionate individuals were able to present their advice to the who’s who of RACGP and ACRRM, Drs Nicole Higgins and Dan Halliday, Georgina VanDeWater, Sue Hefren, Emma McLeay, Kyra Moss and Coralie Endean. Topics covered included placement processes, bi-College accreditation, supervisor PD and networking opportunities, and the expectations each College has of an SLO role which has changed quite drastically since the Transition.
This discussion flowed well into the SLOs’ historic meeting with the Registrar Liaison Officer (RLO) Advisory Council the following morning… where the overwhelming impression was of two distinct groups whose shared commitment to quality and sustainability in GP training made them more aligned than not on all the topics discussed!
Last but not least, June 2024 will be remembered as the month we moved into GPSA’s new home alongside the Postgraduate Medical Council of Victoria (PMCV) in Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne. This was a strategic decision on one hand as we ramp up our activity in the prevocational space, but equally a practical move: out of a very pretty but very very sterile serviced office and into a welcoming, well-equipped shared facility in which we can settle and collaborate in equal measure.