Primary and secondary supervisors

Primary and secondary supervisors

A supervisor who has full responsibility for a registrar and the practice supervisory team is known as a ‘primary supervisor’.

Supervisors who assist the primary supervisor in some tasks or act as deputies when the primary supervisor is absent are known as ‘secondary supervisors’.

The positions of primary and secondary supervisor are not hierarchical, rather, there is a choice in the level of responsibility taken by a supervisor for a registrar. A primary supervisor has overall responsibility for a registrar, for ensuring patient safety, and for ensuring that educational requirements are met. Secondary supervisors don’t have this degree of responsibility.

In some situations, an offsite supervisor might be approved. If the registrar is unable to receive onsite supervision, they will need to find an offsite supervisor who will be required to submit a supervision plan at the time of the application for entry into the FSP. The approval of the offsite supervision is at the RACGP’s discretion.