Chief Executive Officer update
Thank you to each of our supervisors and training practices for your support of the Australian General Practice Training program and GP Synergy in 2021. Congratulations to you for your invaluable contribution to our registrars who have achieved their college fellowship, to those registrars who have chosen general practice as a career this year and congratulations to the registrars who have continued on their path to fellowship.
Each of you have persevered and supported GP training in a time when our community and health system has seen unprecedented challenges which have meant that you, your practices and registrars have had to adapt to many new experiences along the way.
We look forward to supporting training and education in 2022 and we will continue to respond to our environment and seek innovations that can support improvements in the program that advantage all of our stakeholders.
2022 will see changes to the training program as we transition towards college-led training in 2023. Our commitment to all of our supervisors and practices, is that we will do all we can, to stabilise and retain our local teams to ensure our full support and high quality delivery of training.
As many of you are aware, we are seeking to formalise our strategic partnership with the RACGP this month. This proposed strategic partnership is about maintaining capability, capacity, knowledge and expertise within the training program and supporting successful transition to both colleges of the AGPT program through 2022. GP Synergy’s objectives are to provide the foundation for ongoing and uninterrupted GP training and support future-focused primary care in communities where it is needed the most. Specifically, GP Synergy is seeking to retain and optimise the current capability, maintain the significant level of industry/corporate knowledge, and build on the strong culture that currently exists within our organisation. We view the success of both colleges into the future, critically important to ongoing uninterrupted GP training and community access to primary care.
I am most grateful and wish to thank our team members who have been incredibly dedicated to their important roles throughout this year and who are key to GP Synergy’s ongoing support of both ACRRM and RACGP registrars and supervisors in the year ahead.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a very merry Christmas and a safe, healthy and happy year in 2022.
Georgina van de Water | Chief Executive Officer
Transition to college-led training updates
We are committed to keeping our stakeholders up-to-date as we progress through this period of change. To find the latest information, or to communicate a transition related query, visit our website.
Research annual report 2020-2021
We're proud to release the digital GP Synergy Research and Evaluation Annual Report 2020-2021 that highlights the achievements of our Research and Evaluation team, including the ReCEnT project.
2022 education calendars
2022 education calendars for registrars and the supervisor professional development calendar are now available.
The calendars, as well as activities delivered by other providers, are available on our calendars webpage.
Christmas closure
Our offices will be closed from 5pm on Friday 24 December 2021 and will reopen at 9am on Tuesday 4 January 2022.
If you need urgent assistance during this time, please contact Chief Executive Officer, Georgina van de Water.
Having a well-earned break over summer?
If you are taking leave don't forget to inform GP Synergy if there are no other supervisors available in the practice to meet the supervision requirements of your registrar.
Supervisor and practice manager feedback survey results
Thank you to the 286 (16%) community-based supervisors and 303 (26%) practice managers that provided feedback via our annual supervisor and practice manager surveys circulated earlier this year. Unfortunately, the survey distribution coincided with the second wave of COVID-19, so we really do appreciate those that were able to participate.
We're pleased that overall satisfaction with GP Synergy amongst supervisor respondents has improved for the fifth consecutive year from 81% to 84%, and overall satisfaction with GP Synergy amongst practice managers also improved from 86% to 88%.
Results from the survey are currently being reviewed by the Senior Management Team and Education Executive, as well as the Committee Overseeing Supervisor Education (COSE).

Congratulations GP Synergy 2021 award winners!
We're pleased to announce the award winners for the 2021 GP Synergy awards (and the 2020 NSW/ACT RACGP Registrar of the Year). All of our winners have shown excellence and commitment to GP training, and you can learn more about them if you click on each image.
Can you recommend a good book?
Our GPs in Training Wellbeing Committee is seeking your help – can you recommend a book that you found inspirational, helpful or that started a conversation about burnout, mental health or wellbeing? The recommendations will be shared by the committee.
SLO opportunity - Murrumbidgee
Are you interested in advocating for the needs GP supervisors and informing policy, systems and process development to enhance the practice environment for GP training? If so, our Murrumbidgee subregion is looking for a Supervisor Liaison Officer.
Join our medical educator team!
We have a number of opportunities for medical educators and senior medical educators to join the GP Synergy teams in our Central, Eastern and South Western Sydney; Hunter, Manning, Central Coast; Nepean, Western and Northern Sydney; and New England/Northwest subregions.
MESP update
Looking Ahead
I had a novel experience recently - I attended a face-to-face educational event! Once such a normal part of our lives, after 2 years of Zoom this was a real thrill. Part of the session was devoted to making plans for local CPD events in the coming year, and there was a real sense of excitement and anticipation as we discussed topics, venues and even the prospect of a conference.
The clinical presentation for the evening brought together elements of both face to face and online learning, with one presenter joining us via Zoom projected on a big screen, with attendant technical difficulties – perhaps just to make us all comfortable and ease us back into the now unfamiliar world of being able to speak without first unmuting ourselves.
Although we may feel very much 'Zoomed out' at this point, there are still some good points to online learning, like the convenience of being able to attend from wherever you are without travelling to a venue, and the ability to attend in your pyjamas.
Heading into 2022, the MESP team is hard at work developing our supervisor education program for the year, including our 2 core topics: Core Topic 1 'When things go wrong 2 – supporting the registrar in difficulty' and Core Topic 2 'Dealing with change and uncertainty in clinical practice'. Both are being developed with the aim of having both face to face and online options available in each region, to give our supervisors the flexibility to choose a preferred method of delivery.
It seems digital learning is now with us to stay, and while for some this may be a welcome side effect of the pandemic, I am certainly looking forward to returning to face-to-face sessions, both as a teacher and a learner.
After a successful online supervisor conference on Saturday 13 November, plans are in place for the face-to-face version in Sydney on 19 March 2022.
Wishing everyone a happy festive season, may you share some much-needed time with those you love, and we look forward to seeing you all in 2022.
Dr Claudia Long | Medical Educator with Supervisor Portfolio
Supervisor Snippets
Registrar orientation – harnessing technology
Dr Rosie Ross, Medical Educator and GP supervisor, discusses harnessing the use of technology to deliver a part of your orientation for registrars.
As we approach the 2022.1 term, don't forget the orientation resources page in the supervisor toolkit (available through GPRime), amongst other things the page includes information on interactive scenario-based orientation.

2021 Bill Hunter Award recipient
Congratulations to GP supervisor Dr Aniello Iannuzzi on receiving the RDA NSW Bill Hunter Award for 2021! Dr Iannuzzi has dedicated many years to rural health being a rural GP and visiting medical officer based in Coonabarabran since 1997.
Sir General John Monash Scholar
Congratulations to GP registrar Dr Isabel Hanson who has been named as a 2022 Sir General John Monash Scholar! Awarded the BHP John Monash Scholarship, Isabel will undertake a MPhil + DPhil in Translational Health Sciences at the University of Oxford.

GP registrars’ choice of LARC in response to clinical vignettes – who chooses LARC?
Evidence from the GP Synergy NSW & ACT Research and Evaluation Unit – each month we present findings from our work that may be of interest to registrars and their supervisors.
Long-acting reversible contraception (LARC – intrauterine devices and contraceptive implants or injections) is the most effective form of contraception, but uptake of LARC in Australia is considerably less than the evidence for its efficacy suggests should be so. The uptake of LARC prescribing by GP registrars (who are establishing practice patterns that will likely be taken into their ongoing unsupervised practice) has important implications for community reproductive health.
Dr Rachel Turner studied the prevalence and associations of GP registrars’ LARC prescribing (by both analysing ReCEnT study data and conducting a cross-sectional questionnaire study of GP Synergy registrars) during her academic registrar post in 2019. The final1 of four papers2,3,4 reporting this body of work has now been published.
The study questionnaire elicited a contraceptive management response to three clinical vignettes, for each of which LARC was the most appropriate management. Registrar participants could respond ‘LARC chosen’ or ‘LARC not chosen’.
Of 223 registrars (response rate 25%) who completed the questionnaire, 18.5% had received intrauterine device (IUD) insertion training, and 9.4% had inserted IUD in general practice. For contraceptive implants, these figures were 64.3% for training and 50.3% for insertion.
On multivariable analysis (adjusting for a number of potential confounding variables), statistically significant associations of choosing LARC in at least one vignette included the registrar being an Australian medical graduate, being female, having post-graduate O&G experience, and having confidence in, and knowledge of, IUDs and contraceptive implants. These associations were quite strong (odds ratios generally >2.5).
We concluded that only modest proportions of GP registrars have training in, and obtain in-practice experience of, LARC insertion. The associations of choosing to use LARC (in response to the clinical vignettes) with confidence in, and knowledge of, LARC suggest continuing need for LARC education and training during GP vocational training.
If you would like to read the whole paper, it can be found at here.
If you have any questions about the analyses or the study, please contact Parker Magin.
1. Turner R, Tapley A, Sweeney S, Holliday E, Ball J, Magin P. Associations of anticipated prescribing of Long Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) by GP registrars: A cross-sectional study. 2021. Australian Journal of General Practice. 50(12); 929-935. doi: 10.31128/AJGP-09-20-5657
2. Turner R, Tapley A, Sweeney S, Davey A, van Driel M, Morgan S, Spike N, FitzGerald K, Magin P. Prescribing of long acting reversible contraception by general practice registrars across different rural regions of Australia: a cross-sectional analysis of the Registrar Clinical Encounters in Training study data. 2021. Australian Journal of Rural Health. 29(3). 473-476. Doi: 10.1111/ajr.12720
3. Turner R, Tapley A, Sweeney S, Magin P. Barriers to prescribing of Long Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) by GP registrars: a cross-sectional questionnaire. 2021. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 61(3). 469-473 DOI: 10.1111/ajo.13320
4. Turner R, Tapley A, Sweeney S, Davey A, Holliday E, van Driel M, Henderson K, Ball J, Morgan S, Spike N, Fitzgerald K, Magin P. Prevalence and associations of prescribing of Long Acting Reversible Contraception by GP Registrars: a secondary analysis of ReCEnT data. 2020. BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health. 46(3) 218-225 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjsrh-2019-200309
COVID-19
We have been circulating information concerning the impact of COVID-19 on the training program. This includes FAQs and changes to our face-to-face education program.
GP Synergy PD calendar
Make sure you don't miss an event or webinar by accessing the supervisor professional development calendar on our website.
External activity noticeboard
Explore a list of activities and online modules. This includes modules on children's health, dermatology, mental health, prescribing and more!
Need some help?
Find key GP Synergy contacts including Practice Liaison and Support Officers, Supervisor Liaison Officers and Medical Educators with a Supervisor Portfolio.