Dentists
Oral Health Therapist Graduate Year Measure
The Oral Health Therapist (OHT) Graduate Year Measure is a 2012-13 Budget measure that will support graduate OHT placements. The Program will support 50 OHT graduate placements each year from 2014. The objective of the OHT graduate year is to provide a structured transition to practice and professional development opportunities for OHTs, whilst increasing dental workforce and service delivery capacity, particularly in the public sector.
What is the measure?
What funding is available?
When will this measure start?
Who will be involved in the measure?
Who will administer the OHT placements?
Where will the OHT placements be located?
Are there adequate dental facilities to support the OHT placements?
What are the benefits for participating OHT graduates?
What are the benefits for participating dental services?
How much will the OHT participants earn?
What are the eligibility and selection requirements?
Is the OHT graduate year compulsory?
Will this affect my registration or future career options?
What happens at the end of the OHT graduate year?
Is this measure duplicating other state and territory programs?
Is this the only Commonwealth program aimed at supporting the dental sector?
Where can further information about the OHT Graduate Year Measure be found?
What is the measure?
The measure will fund the introduction of a oral health therapist (OHT) graduate year measure. The measure will support graduate OHT placements providing a structured transition to practice and professional development opportunities, whilst increasing dental workforce and service delivery capacity, particularly in the public sector. Fifty voluntary graduate placements will be supported each year from 2014.
What funding is available?
The measure will cost $45.2 million (GST exclusive) over four years from 2012-13.
Funding will support the development of the program, salaries for graduate and pro rata mentor positions and additional infrastructure required to support graduate placements. A $10,000 bonus payment will also be provided to participants on completion of their graduate year.
When will this measure start?
Implementation will commence from 1 July 2012, with OHT graduate placements commencing in the 2014 calendar year. This will enable the program to be fully developed and additional infrastructure to be established to ensure the placements are appropriately supported on commencement.
Who will be involved in the measure?
Participants in the measure will include OHT graduates, mentors to support the graduates and service providers to provide placements.
A range of stakeholders are expected to be consulted to guide the development of the measure, which may include, but is not limited to, states and territory governments, the Australian Dental and Oral Health Therapists' Association, other peak dental and educational bodies and student representatives.
An external party or parties will be responsible for the administration of the measure (see below).
Who will administer the OHT placements?
Top of pageThe measure will be administered by a national administrator, expected to be engaged through a competitive selection process.
The appointed administrator will be largely responsible for advertising placements and seeking participants, selecting graduates and service providers and the roll out of the measure, in consultation with the Department and other relevant stakeholders, and in accordance with the program requirements established by the Government.
Where will the OHT placements be located?
Where possible, placements will be located in public dental services and areas in need, which could include location, setting and/or population based need. However, the final distribution of placements will be influenced by a variety of factors including jurisdictional and local capacity (such as infrastructure capacity) and will be informed through consultation with key stakeholders and determined by the program administrator.
Are there adequate dental facilities to support the OHT placements?
Placements will be allocated to services with suitable resources and capacity, or the ability to enhance resources or capacity, prior to the commencement of OHT graduate placements. OHTs placements will be in services that can ensure appropriate professional relationships with a dental team can be maintained.
Funding is available under the measure for additional infrastructure to ensure the placements can be appropriately supported.What are the benefits for participating OHT graduates?
Top of pageThe program will provide a structured and supported transition to practice for OHT graduates, providing practice experience and professional development opportunities which build on the skills, knowledge and experience gained through entry to practice courses.
A curriculum will be developed specifically for the program. The final program content will be guided by consultation with key stakeholders to ensure its value and appropriateness for dental graduates.
Participants will also benefit from additional support in their first year of practice through mentors and networks with other program participants. Participants will also receive a $10,000 bonus payment on completion of their placement.
What are the benefits for participating dental services?
Participating dental services will benefit from funding to enhance its infrastructure and the recruitment of a Commonwealth subsidised OHT workforce. This will help improve dental workforce distribution and increase workforce capacity and the provision of services, particularly in the public dental sector.
By supporting OHTs the measure will also encourage multidisciplinary and preventative approaches to care, enable dentists to focus on the more complex dental service needs of the community and assist in earlier identification and treatment of oral health issues.
How much will the OHT participants earn?
The Commonwealth will support incomes in accordance with the relevant employment award, which vary between states and territories. The income would be equivalent to the salaries of other first year OHT professionals who are not participating in the measure. Commonwealth funding provided for salaries under this measure does not restrict employers from providing additional funding for higher salaries from their own sources.
Participants will also receive a $10,000 bonus payment on completion of their placement, in addition to their salary. Applicants and participants are encouraged to seek advice from the Australian Taxation Office (external), about any impact the awarding of a bonus payment may have on their financial situation.
What are the eligibility and selection requirements?
Top of pageEligibility and selection criteria will be set out in Program Guidelines. Graduate placements will be targeted at qualified OHTs. Application documentation will be developed and the administrator will assess and rank applications each year based on core eligibility and selection criteria. While eligibility and selection criteria are yet to be finalised, it is expected that applicants must have completed an Australian approved OHT course of study in the academic year prior to the OHT placement and be registered as an OHT, with no restrictions, with the Dental Board of Australia, or have the ability to gain this registration prior to a placement. Criteria may be amended from time to time in recognition of pressures in specific areas of need or other emerging issues.
Is the OHT graduate year compulsory?
No, participation in this measure is voluntary. The measure does not restrict existing employment options for gradating OHTs. The measure is also for service providers.
Will this affect my registration or future career options?
OHT graduate placements are and not linked to registration.
It is possible that the completion of the program may be viewed favourably by employers or educational institutions, but it is not an entry requirement for any other programs.
What happens at the end of the OHT graduate year?
Participants will receive a $10,000 bonus payment for completing the graduate year.
Participants will need to seek ongoing employment, as they would have if they went straight into practice without the support of the graduate program. Employment options may include the location of their placement (if a position is available) or a different location in either the public or private sector.
The continued employment of OHTs who choose to remain in the public sector following their OHT graduate placement will remain the responsibility of states and territories.
Is this measure duplicating other state and territory programs?
Top of pageThe measure is expected to build on rather than duplicate or replace existing jurisdictional efforts. A national approach to improving dental workforce capacity is needed, particularly in the public sector.
Is this the only Commonwealth program aimed at supporting the dental sector?
The OHT graduate year measure will help increase the capacity of the public dental workforce, which will help increase service delivery capacity. The measure complements a range of other Commonwealth funded programs supporting the dental sector, including the Dental Graduate Year Program (VDGYP), a similar measure supporting dental graduates. The Government is also funding two other dental workforce measures as part of the 2012-13 dental reform package. The VDGYP will be expanded to support additional dental graduate placements and a Dental Relocation and Infrastructure Support Scheme will be established to encourage and support dentists to relocate to regional, rural and remote areas and to assist in establishing their practices.
Further information on Commonwealth funded dental measures is available on the Department of Health an Ageing website
Where can further information about the OHT Graduate Year Measure be found?
Information will be placed on the Department’s website as it becomes available, including information regarding the administration of the measure. Once appointed, the administrator/s will provide information on the program guidelines and application and selection processes.
Email the Dental Section, Health Workforce Division, (DWP@health.gov.au)
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