Find answers to frequently asked questions about the role of General Practices in the NSW Rural Generalist Single Employer Pathway (RGSEP), a co-ordinated and supported employment pathway for junior doctors seeking a career as a rural generalist.
A separate fact sheet is available to answer RGSEP - Frequently asked questions for GP trainees.
The Rural Generalist Single Employer Pathway (RGSEP) is a co-ordinated and supported pathway for junior doctors seeking a career as a rural generalist. Rural generalist trainees on the pathway are employed for up to four years by a rural Local Health District (LHD) while completing training in primary care and hospital settings.
The pathway supports rural generalist trainees to complete their training and advanced skills training with a single employer. It provides them with one contract for the length of their training. (A contract with an employing LHD can last up to four years depending on the trainee's stage of training). This allows trainees to keep their entitlements (for example, sick leave, annual leave, parental leave), as all other Specialist trainees employed by NSW Health do.
The RGSEP is available in the following NSW Health LHDs:
View a map of NSW LHDs.
GP practices interested in becoming part of the RGSEP should contact your LHD. To be eligible to participate in the pathway, your practice and supervisor must be accredited by either the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) and/or the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) to be a GP Registrar Training Practice and GP Supervisor.
Your practice must have the capacity and infrastructure to accommodate a GP trainee, and the ability to provide supervision both in the practice and the local hospital. This will generally (but not exclusively) be in Modified Monash Model 3-7 towns with GP Supervisors who also work as GP VMOs in their local hospital in Emergency Department, inpatients, and/or practicing procedural skills such as anaesthetics or obstetrics.
You must be willing to provide supervision and sharing of procedural rosters/access to those services.
Your practice will be required to enter into an agreement with the LHD to participate in the RGSEP.
GP trainees will be supervised by a GP at your practice who is an accredited supervisor for the ACRRM or RACGP training program, or both. The GP trainees’ duties will be the same as those of other GP trainees.
Yes. When trainees participating in the RGSEP undertake a GP practice rotation, they will be supervised by a GP at your practice who is an accredited supervisor for the ACRRM and/or RACGP training program.
GP supervisors will receive supervision payments under the National Consistent Payments Framework for AGPT registrars as is the same for other AGPT registrars. The Department of Health and Aged Care has advised that both Colleges have been notified that exemptions will be provided under the NCP Framework for those practices and supervisors who:
If a trainee is not AGPT, for example, ACRRM independent pathway, Supervisors don’t receive payments for practice supervision.
The employing LHD, in association with the trainees’ GP colleges (ACRRM and RACGP and HETI for advanced skills training), will manage trainee rotations including trainee administration, payment of salary and management of leave.
When the GP trainee is undertaking a GP rotation, your practice is responsible for providing appropriate supervision and training consistent with ACRRM and RACGP requirements.
The trainee remains an employee of the LHD. The trainee is employed according to the terms and conditions of the NSW Public Hospital Medical Officers Award. The district continues to be responsible for remuneration and other employment-related benefits such as superannuation, leave and allowances.
Your practice is not to pay the trainee. The trainee is required to assign all gross billings and gross receipts generated during the rotation to the practice.
Your practice will be invoiced for the total hours that a trainee is seeing patients or doing patient related administration within the practice and agreed on costs. The hourly rate will be determined by the trainee’s classification according to the Public Medical Officers Award (RMO 2, Registrar Level 1, 2, 3 or 4). Your practice will not be invoiced for the time the trainee spends undertaking educational activities.
The GP trainee will not be appointed as a GP VMO at the local facility, as they are an employed salaried medical officer, and are paid according to the Medical Officer Award for hours worked in the hospital. Your practice will not be invoiced for time worked in a LHD facility. This means that the work that the GP trainee does in the hospital - such as hospital emergency shifts, anaesthetic lists, obstetric services, and inpatient ward work and/or on call hospital payments - are all paid directly to the trainee under the Award.
If the GP Supervisor also sees patients seen by the registrars, they can still charge as a GP VMO when indicated.
The section 19(2) exemption allows the GP trainee to bill Medicare. All of the trainee’s Medicare billings will be assigned to your practice, along with any gap payments your practice may charge. Your practice will need to assess the impact of the funding arrangements proposed.
Your practice will not be invoiced for the time the trainee spends undertaking educational activities or time spent at a LHD facility.
No, your practice does not pay payroll tax on the monthly invoices you pay to the LHD in respect of the Placement Cost.
From a review of the NSW Payroll Tax Act 2007, it is reasonable to argue that the Practice Agreement is an ‘employment agency contract’ (section 37 of the NSW Payroll Tax Act 2007). Under an employment agency contract, the LHD is the employment agent and is taken to be the employer, and the RG Trainee is the employee. As the RGSEP Practice Agreement is an employment agency contract, the Agreement will not be a relevant contract for your practice, and you will not need to include the invoices when calculating whether your practice exceeds the payroll tax wages threshold.
The GP trainee will not be appointed as a GP VMO at the local facility as they are an employed salaried medical officer and paid according to the Medical Officer Award for hours worked in the hospital. Your practice will not be invoiced for time worked in a LHD facility.
As per the Medical Officers Award, the GP trainee’s ordinary hours of work shall not exceed 38 hours a week. However, this is normally worked as a 40 hour work week with a rostered day off per calendar month. The number of hours the trainee will work at your practice will differ per trainee but will be agreed upon between your practice and the LHD.
Yes, they are included in the recruitment target/cap.
Yes, provider numbers are location-specific
Doctors recruited to the NSW RGSEP are registered trainees with either ACRRM or RACGP working towards Fellowship of the College. The trainee must comply with the relevant colleges training requirements.
Depending on the trainee’s level of training and which College they are training with, the allocation of time dedicated to these hours will vary.
The GP trainee your practice receives will vary from rotation to rotation and range from GPT1/CGT1 to GPT4/CGT4 level.
In accordance with the Public Hospitals Medical Officer (State) Award, trainee salary classification will depend on postgraduate experience.
Trainee placement in a GP practice will be determined considering GP trainee preferences and training requirements, and in consultation with GP practices.
Yes. Trainees employed by the LHD under the RGSEP are supported through an exemption under Section 19(2) of the Health Insurance Act 1973. This allows trainees to bill Medicare for the services they provide while working in private GP practices.
The trainee is required to assign all gross billings and gross receipts generated during the rotation to your practice.
Trainees will undertake training in participating AMS and GP practices and hospitals and Multi-Purpose Services (MPS) within the employing LHD in Modified Monash 2 to 7 locations.
There may be opportunities for trainees to undertake rotations to positions in other LHDs.
Yes. All trainees recruited to the RGSEP are a GP Trainee enrolled in one of the following:
All trainees recruited to the RGSEP must also be eligible for selection into the Health Education and Training Institute, Rural Generalist Medical Training Program (RGTP).
