Policy Update Notice: AGPT Registrar Training Handbook

Affected section of the handbook

Change

Rationale

Extended Skills Training

The following paragraph has been amended to include ‘Registrar Liaison Officer term’:

If you choose to partially extend your skills in a non-clinical setting outside of an approved academic post term or Registrar Liaison Officer term, at least 50 per cent of the total hours you work must be extending your skills in another clinical setting. You cannot use a concurrent GPT1, 2 or 3 term to fulfill this 50 per cent requirement

In the past the treatment of Registrar Liaison Officer (RLO) roles has differed between the Regional Training Organisations. With GP training moving back into the RACGP national consistency was sought moving forward.

The RLO position is seen to be an important role within GP training and there has been reported difficulties in recruiting GP registrars into the role.

The following sentence was added:

Where the AKT or KFP is scheduled up to 31 calendar days prior to the training term end date, the RACGP will allow registrars from affected states or territories to sit the examination.

This amendment will alleviate the challenge whereby AGPT term end dates routinely fall after the AKT or KFP exam date.

A similar clause has been added to the Fellowship Exams Policy.

The following requirement has been added to address situations whereby registrars on extension intend to withdraw from a Fellowship Exam:

If you are an AGPT registrar and were granted any extension of program time, you must obtain written approval from your Region's Director of Training (RDOT) if you wish to withdraw from a Fellowship exam. Withdrawal requests that do not include a written approval signed by your Region's Director of Training will not be processed.

This new requirement will ensure that candidates on extension discuss their request for withdrawal with the RDOT first so they can be provided with timely and appropriate advice on the consequences of withdrawing.

This requirement will alleviate issues encountered in the past, eg. the delayed knowledge that candidates had withdrawn from a Fellowship Exam meant that some registrars missed the application dates for FSP.

The following sentence has been added pertaining to Emergency Department terms being used towards paediatrics requirements:

One term may be undertaken in Post Graduate Year 1 (PGY1) if the other is undertaken in Post Graduate Year 2 (PGY2) or later.