“On your marks!”

That’s what it feels like in the lead up to a new training term. A race, a marathon… call it what you will, as this year races to a close and thousands of registrars are being interviewed across the country for next term, it’s a great time to: Keep going!

I was reminded of the significance of this one key attribute of GP supervisors recently while reviewing the national GP supervisor satisfaction results. Given how much change has beset the GP training environment in 2016, one might anticipate discontent. Do you know what the survey results tell me? Yes, there are challenges emanating from the new environment but, by and large, supervisors have kept on keeping on. And where there are issues, they can be fixed where our training providers, department of health and Minister for Health are prepared to listen.It is the supervisors and training practices which keep this ship upright and it will remain so for many years to come. Why? Because we just keep going – through all of the challenges we weather the storms. We provide the continuity so vital to our communities and importantly to the GP training community.

I had the pleasure to observe Dr Jessica Borgas be awarded the Monty Kent-Hughes Memorial Award for achieving the highest RACGP OSCE result in Australia. Therein lay the ultimate reward for a GP supervisor; seeing your registrar excel, be welcomed into our GP community and reaching independence with excellence. It fills you up and in some way compensates for the more challenging bits.

As you head into a new training term we encourage you to be kind to yourselves and your registrars. Being kind doesn’t mean Christmas bonuses or best boss aspirations. It’s about choosing to make your life simpler. GPSA have employment agreement templates consistent with the NTCER available for you and spent most of 2016 negotiating the New Terms and Conditions on your behalf. When you’re talking to your new registrar and they want to negotiate for more than the NTCER conditions. You can let them know, that the negotiation has already happened and that you pay according to the NTCER. It saves so much time and angst for everyone and sets the tone for the coming training term… that is a focus on training, not money.

I encourage you to diarise the dates for Medicare Provider Number Processing – these must be submitted by 12 December. This is the responsibility of your new registrar, but if you could assist in highlighting this point it will likely make for a smoother start to 2016 for your practice.

Dr Steve Holmes
Chair, GP Supervisors Australia