The agreemnt has been reached three months earlier than the previous agreement, and just in time for registrars and practices to negotiate their employment arrangements for 2017.
The new agreement continues to cover GP registrars undertaking Australian GP Training in all general practice terms of training, and has been brokered with the assistance of the AMA.
GPSA Chair, Dr Bruce Willett, said supervisor and training practice feedback received prior to negotiations heavily informed the GPSA negotiation team’s position and, given the existing Medicare freeze, rising costs and the freeze on training practice subsidies, no increase to the base rates, nor the percentages, has occurred at this negotiation.
The NTCER is a goodwill document that applies because of the agreements in place between the Australian Government and the Regional Training Organisations (RTOs), which require training practices to observe it.
The NTCER agreement reached for 2017-18 again requires that registrars be engaged as employees, and allows for percentage payments to be made on a billings or receipts basis not less than every three months.
GPRA Chair, Dr Jomini Cheong, said that the GPRA team, led by the NTCER Chair, Dr Mary Wyatt, had been well-informed and strongly supported by the GPRA Advisory Council, and the organisation was pleased that the new agreement provides greater clarity around issues that had previously been open to interpretation.
Dr Willett and Dr Cheong thanked the Australian Government, the Regional Training Organisations, and the AMA for their ongoing support and promotion of the National Terms and Conditions for the Employment of Registrars.
The NTCER 2017-18 represents the fairest possible outcome for both training practices and registrars in the current political and economic environment.
*GP registrars employed in community controlled health workplaces, Australian Defence Force, or GP registrars in remediation may be bound by other contractual arrangements.
