Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Salary Support Program – revised 2018 AGPT Policy
As a part of the Federal Government’s Close the Gap initiatives, there are opportunities for GP registrars who wish to undertake a part of their core vocational training in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
The final 2018 Salary Support Program Policy has been published on the AGPT website. Both GPRA and IGPRN were actively involved in working with the Department of Health in the review of this program, leading to this revised 2018 Policy.
The 2018 Salary Support Program Policy aims to address two complementary objectives:
- To provide long-term training placements in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health settings for GP registrars interested in exploring a career in this field; and
- To expose as many other registrars as possible to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health training and support cultural awareness through shorter-term placements to inform their training and practice as GPs.
The revised policy enables RTOs the ability to flexibly applied their allocations within individual regions and to work with their regions to direct funding to the areas in most need; however, the total national allocation for the program has not been increased.
There will no longer be a restriction on GP registrars in their first year of training participating in the program. This is in recognition that registrars enter the program with a diverse range of skills, experience and interests; those with appropriate experience and sufficient cultural understanding should not be prevented from commencing their training in an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health settings.
The 2018 policy also clarifies the eligible training types by explicitly excluding hospital terms, core clinical training, academic posts and optional electives from the Salary Support Program. Aside from these restrictions, the policy does not mandate a minimum or maximum duration of training in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health facilities; this may be negotiated by the RTO with each training facility and registrar.
Salary Support hourly rates will be determined by the Modified Monash Model (MMM) geographical classification of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health training facility. These rates are detailed in the policy document.
