GP registrar dissatisfaction with employment conditions
The President of General Practice Registrars Australia (GPRA), Dr Melanie Smith today said that, while the majority of general practice registrars are satisfied with the supervision and education they receive from their training practices, there are much lower levels of satisfaction with their employment arrangements.
“Only just over one-half of the registrars responding to GPRA’s 2017 benchmarking survey were satisfied with their remuneration, with nearly 40% dissatisfied with their ability to negotiate on salary and nearly one-third dissatisfied on being able to negotiate on other aspects of their employment arrangements.”
“It’s pretty disillusioning for many registrars that base rate salaries in the NTCER have not changed in four years,” said Dr Smith.
“Base rates of pay for registrars in their first term in general practice are now lower than base salaries for hospital-based junior medical officers (PGY2) in all states except Tasmania, and substantially lower than first-year registrar base-salaries for all hospital-based specialties. This significant step-down in base salary for registrars, in moving from hospital-based positions to community-based practice, is a big disincentive for pursuing GP training.”
“The fact that in some training practices registrars have a 3-month wait to receive their share of the Medicare billings they have earned adds to their disenchantment”, she added.
“The NTCER is a minimum safety net, not an employment standard,” said Dr Smith. “Registrars should be encouraged to negotiate with their training practices. This is an important part of learning about the business of general practice.”
“But it’s not all about the money; other aspects of employment and training are just as important. We have high regard for those supervisors and practice owners who make their practices great places for registrars to work and learn,” said Dr Smith.
“Our research also shows that nearly one in five registrars surveyed were dissatisfied with their ability to access their Medicare billings records. This is a matter of concern.”
“It is an expectation of the NTCER that training practices provide prompt access for registrars to their patient billings,” said Dr Smith. “This is really important as every registrar is fully responsible for all of their patient billings. We encourage all training practices to support their registrars on this matter.”
ENDS
Inquiries:
General Practice Registrars Australia
enquiries@gpra.org.au or 03 9629 8878