NSW GP trainee Dr Chris Dickie will be the next president of General Practice Registrars Australia.
As 2024 wraps up, peak bodies across the general practice sector are finalising leadership teams for 2025 – and while there will be some new faces, others will remain the same.
Academic GP registrar Dr Chris Dickie will step into the role of president of the peak body for GPs in training, General Practice Registrars Australia, from January 2025.
The Scottish-trained doctor replaces outgoing president Dr Karyn Matterson.
Dr Dickie works at a practice in NSW, commuting to his academic post at the Australian National University medical school in Canberra two days per week.
His research focus is on leadership in general practice.
“I’m eager to advocate for meaningful change, ensuring GPRA members have the support and resources they need throughout their journey to become the future GPs of Australia,” he said.
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The past two years have seen a wave of advocacy from peak bodies like the RACGP, AMA and ACRRM on pay and leave parity for GP registrars, who can face up to a $30,000 per annum pay cut when they move between hospital-based positions and general practice training.
While the federal government has remained mum on the issue, various states have begun offering incentive payments for junior doctors who commit to GP training.
Some states have also introduced single-employer models for rural GP and rural generalist trainees.
Outside of single-employer model trials, there are limited ways for GP registrars to retain leave entitlements across placements.
Meanwhile, GPRA’s counterparts at General Practice Supervision Australia have re-elected Brisbane GP Dr Srishti Dutta as chair for another two years.
Dr Dutta said it was an “honour” to be able to continue in the role.
“We have achieved a lot in this last twelve months, but a large portion of our efforts is still yet to be consolidated,” she said.
“What lies ahead is very exciting.”
The two peak training organisations completed negotiations on the National Terms and Conditions for the Employment of GP Registrars for 2025 and 2026 earlier this year, with term one registrars securing a 7% increase in base rate pay.
These will be rolled out at two separate 3.5% raises at the beginning of each training year, and will only apply to pay in the first term of training.
For the first time in more than five years, all GP training places on the Australian GP Training program have been filled heading into 2025.
All places on the Rural Generalist Training Scheme, which is solely administered by ACRRM, are also oversubscribed for the third year in a row.
