2 NEWS
2 NEWS
8 MARCH 2024 ausdoc . com . au
‘ We have no time to give birth ’
GP registrars are calling on the govt for a solution to their parental leave dilemma .
Sarah Simpkins
GP registrars who have returned to work weeks after giving birth are calling for a government-backed parental leave fund .
Registrar Dr Marian Dover saved two weeks of her annual leave to use after she had her second child .
With only annual leave or sick leave available , Dr Dover and her husband decided she should return to work after a fortnight while he cared for baby Anna and worked on arranging childcare .
Dr Dover would go home to breastfeed during lunch breaks or express at the practice .
“ It was hard , emotionally and physically , going back two weeks after you have had a baby ,” she said .
“ And I think it was fortunate that I did not have a complicated delivery . “ But still , you are recovering from something that is quite major , adjusting to a new baby and having to breastfeed when you are back at work .
“ I think , if I realistically had some more access to paid leave , I would have taken at least 4-6 months .” General Practice Registrars
Australia ( GPRA ) repeated concerns that the lack of paid leave was turning junior doctors away from GP training . While one mooted solution was employment contracts for registrars , GPRA ’ s federal budget submission suggested a paid leave ‘ fund ’ modelled on industry endowment funds , such as police legacy or hardship funds .
It calculated that the fund would require $ 46 million from the Federal Government over 11 years : an initial $ 15 million in its first year , followed by a further $ 3 million each year for the following nine years .
But over time , it could become self-fulfilling by making investments and through contributions from donors , such as GP corporates . The RACGP also echoed the need . It stressed that GP registrars ’ income fell from almost $ 126,000 in their hospital year of training to around $ 93,500 in their first 12 months in community general practice , excluding any percentage of billings .
As a fix , it is suggesting the government provide up to $ 35,830 parental leave per registrar in the form of direct payments via Services Australia .
Under the GPRA model , registrars would be able to apply for its proposed support fund to cover eight weeks of parental leave at 100 % of their base rate salary if they had completed 12 months of training .
And registrars whose partners had given birth would be able to apply for up to two weeks of leave paid at 75 % base salary after 12 months in training .
‘ Going into general practice training costs a family .’
Dr Marian Dover and her children , Jacob and Anna .
The fund would also let GP registrars access up to 15 days of study and exam leave — again , entitlements available to hospital-based trainees . Dr Dover said registrars usually took two weeks of leave to study for exams — either annual or unpaid leave .
But for her , the pressure of being the primary breadwinner and caring for two young children made studying “ impossible ”.
“ You are having to juggle continuing to breastfeed , looking after a baby while you are home , studying for exams and having to keep up with the demands of work .
“ It is significant pressure , and I do not think we appreciate how much that turns people off GP training .
“ I think it affects both men and women .
“ Going into general practice training costs a family , and it costs a young couple .”
Dr Rebecca Loveridge , chair of the RACGP ’ s GPs in Training Council , said the fact that registrars only stayed with practices for six-month stints made the leave problem hard to fix .
On top of that , GP practices were struggling financially .
“ A practice that happens to get a registrar who is going to take maternity leave would then be significantly financially stressed to have to pay that leave out when the registrar has only been there for possibly a week or two ,” said Dr Loveridge .
She said she knew registrars who had delayed having children until they had finished GP training ; others chose a hospital job to get parental leave .
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