Competencies arranged by Role

Professional


Progressive capability profile of the specialist general practitioner

Last revised: 11 Aug 2025

The specialist GP as a professional 


This role includes the professional elements of being a specialist general practitioner, including self-care, reflective skills, continual improvement and legal and ethical responsibilities. 

 

Milestone competencies

Capability

Theme

Entry

Foundation

Consolidation

Fellowship

Behave in a professional and ethical way

Professional behaviour

Integrate professional codes of conduct into practice

Integrate professional codes of conduct into practice in the general practice setting

Conduct oneself professionally and identify and address risks to professional conduct by oneself and others 

Be an exemplar of professional behaviour and consistently follow professional codes of conduct in practice and reflect on own adherence. Understand own role as part of a collective to follow expected professional standards

 

Therapeutic boundaries

Recognise and respect therapeutic boundaries, seeking assistance when needed

Recognise threats to therapeutic boundaries and know how to access support in maintaining therapeutic boundaries

Identify threats to therapeutic boundaries and manage these professionally

Identify potential threats to therapeutic boundaries and take preventive measures to preserve therapeutic boundaries

 

Ethical issues

A strong commitment to ethical practice, including seeking advice from senior colleagues when needed

Understand key ethical issues in the general practice context

Have a strong understanding of medical ethics in the general practice context and the skills to address challenges to ethical behaviour

Understand and navigate complexities in ethical practice to achieve a high level of ethical practice

Practice self-care

Self-care

Recognise the importance of self-care

Recognise the importance of personal health and wellbeing and practice self-care in the GP context and identify strategies to achieve this, including seeking professional advice when needed

Practice self-care whilst working and identify available supports relevant to the GP context

Develop and implement plans to enhance personal wellbeing to allow for optimal professional performance and support colleagues in practicing self-care

Engage in reflective practice and ongoing learning 

Feedback and learning

Seek feedback with a willingness to change, identify learning needs and address these

Seek, engage and respond to feedback on performance. Identify learning needs, and access resources and support to address those in the general practice context

Develop processes and relationships that provide ongoing feedback on performance including peer benchmarking. Undertake professional development and make effective changes to practice based on feedback

Foster environments that encourage feedback and participate in professional development relevant to current and future practice

Reflective practice

Engage in reflective practice during interactions, demonstrating self-awareness

Engage in reflective practice during consultations and engage in dialogue about own performance

Regularly engage in reflective practice during consultations, adapt as needed in real time, and describe influence on future practice

Proactively engage in reflective practice and utilise it to continually improve

Understand own professional competency

Self-evaluation to enhance care provision

Identify professional limitations and seek appropriate help as required

Identify professional limitations and seek appropriate help as required in the general practice context

Effectively judge the quality of the care one provides, and institute measures to improve one’s own practice

Have strategies to identify quality practice in unfamiliar environments and be able to judge one's own provision of care in any setting

Cultural competency

Understand that a clinician’s cultural lens impacts on patient care and respect different cultural perspectives

Understand and use basic strategies to manage the impact of your cultural lens and privilege on patient care, in the context of general practice

Demonstrate awareness and critical reflection of personal values, beliefs, attitudes and power differentials in delivering safe care

Undertake regular critical reflection on own practice and utilise insights to continually improve cultural safety of patient care

Meet legal and duty of care responsibilities

Legal obligations

 Respect and understand key legal principles such as privacy, confidentiality, certification, duty-of-care and informed consent

Understand and respect duty-of-care and legal responsibilities in the general practice context

Recognise, manage and seek help for complex legal issues in general practice including where there are issues around capacity for consent or conflicting duties of care

Manage complex legal issues in practice

Medical records and reports

Maintain accurate and thorough clinical records

Provide and/or access resources to support provision of accurate medico-legal documentation

Compile information from clinical records to write a factual synthesis for a medicolegal report

Synthesise clinical information for accurate medicolegal reports which may include providing a professional opinion

 
 
 

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