Dentists
Voluntary Dental Graduate Year Program - Questions and Answers
Expansion to the Voluntary Dental Graduate Year Measure
What is the measure? What funding is available? When will this measure start? Who will be involved in the measure? Who will administer the VDGYP graduate placements? Where will the VDGYP placements be located? Are there adequate dental facilities to support the VDGYP placements? What are the benefits for participating dental graduates? What are the benefits for participating dental services? How much will the dental VDGYP participants earn? What are the eligibility and selection requirements? Is the VDGYP graduate year compulsory? Will this affect my registration or future career options? What happens at the end of the VDGYP placement? 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 Voluntary Dental Graduate Year Program be found?
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What is the measure?
The measure builds on the 2011-12 budget measure that funded the introduction of the Voluntary Dental Graduate Year Program (VDGYP). The VDGYP provides dental graduates with a structured program for enhanced practice experience and professional development opportunities, whilst increasing dental workforce and service delivery capacity, particularly in the public sector.
The expansion increases graduate placements by up to 50 places per year to offer a total of 100 placements each year from 2016. An additional 25 placements will be provided in 2015 and an additional 50 placements per year from 2016 onward.
What funding is available?
The expansion of the VDGYP will cost $35.7 million (GST exclusive) over three years from 2013-14. This builds on the $52.6 million (GST exclusive) already being provided for the VDGYP over 2011-12 to 2014-15.
Funding is for the development and administration of the program, salaries for dental graduate and pro rata mentor positions and additional infrastructure required to support VDGYP placements. A $15,000 bonus payment will also be provided to participants on completion of their VDGYP placement.
When will this measure start?
The expansion to the VDGYP will provide an additional 25 places in 2015 and an additional 50 places each year from 2016. This is on top of the 50 annual graduate placements commencing in the 2013 calendar year under the existing VDGYP measure.
The timing for the additional graduate placements is to ensure infrastructure and resources are in place to appropriately support the placements on commencement. Development and implementation work for the VDGYP is currently underway.
Who will be involved in the measure?
Participants in the measure will include Australian dental graduates, dental mentors to support the graduates and service providers to provide VDGYP placements. A range of stakeholders were consulted to guide the development of the VDGYP, which included states and territory governments, the Australian Dental Association, the Australasian Council of Dental Schools, the Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health, Health Workforce Australia, the Australian Dental Students Association and the University Dental Students Society.
Who will administer the VDGYP graduate placements?
Top of pageAITEC will be responsible for the advertising, participant selection and roll out of the measure, in consultation with the Department and other relevant stakeholders, and in accordance with program requirements established by the Government. These requirements include a focus on placements in public services, rural areas and aged care facilities.
Where will the VDGYP 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. The expanded program will involve participation of more service providers, which may include more rural and remote areas and other sectors and settings such as aged care facilities, Aboriginal Medical Services and private practices servicing areas of need.
However, the final distribution of placements will be influenced by a variety of factors including jurisdictional and local capacity and will be informed through consultation with key stakeholders and determined by the program administrator.
Are there adequate dental facilities to support the VDGYP 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 VDGYP placements. Funding is available under the measure for additional infrastructure to ensure the VDGYP placements can be appropriately supported.
What are the benefits for participating dental graduates?
The program will provide a structured and supported transition to practice for dental graduates, providing practice experience and professional development opportunities which build on the skills, knowledge and experience gained through entry to practice courses.
The Australasian Council of Dental Schools is currently developing a curriculum specifically for the VDGYP. The final program content will be guided by consultation with key stakeholders to ensure its value and appropriateness for dental graduates, but is expected to include both practical and theoretical components.
Participants will also benefit from additional support in their first year of practice through dental mentors and networks with other program participants. Participants will also receive a $15,000 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 dental workforce. This will help improve dental workforce distribution and increase workforce capacity and the provision of services, particularly in the public dental sector.
How much will the dental VDGYP 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 dental professionals who are not participating in the measure. Participants will also receive a $15,000 bonus payment on completion of their placement, in addition to their salary.
Commonwealth funding provided for salaries under this measure does not restrict employers from providing additional funding for higher salaries from their own sources.
What are the eligibility and selection requirements?
Top of pageEligibility and selection criteria are set out in the VDGYP Program Guidelines. Application documentation will be developed and the administrator will assess applications each year based on core eligibility and selection criteria.
Graduate eligibility includes being an Australian citizen or a permanent resident of Australia; having completed an Australian approved course of study in dentistry in the academic year prior to the year of the VDGYP placement; and having general registration as a dentist with the Dental Board of Australia with no restrictions, or ability to gain this registration prior to a placement.
Selection criteria includes the ability to commence a full time VDGYP placement and undertake development activities in accordance with the program; the ability to undertake a placement and/or rotations in an area of need (location, setting and/or client based need); and the applicant’s goals. Additional criteria may be added to the application form in recognition of pressures in specific areas of need or other emerging issues.
VDGYP placements will be offered to applicants ranked highest on the order of merit. The offer of a placement cannot be deferred to a future year. Should an applicant decline the offer of a VDGYP placement, an offer will be made to the next person on the order of merit, and so forth, until all available placements are filled.
The ranking of service providers may be adjusted in future years based on applications from new services or due to changes in VDGYP priorities and selection criteria. Service providers may choose to submit a new application against the amended priorities or criteria.
Is the VDGYP graduate year compulsory?
No, participation in this measure is voluntary. The measure does not restrict existing employment options for graduating dentists. The measure is also voluntary for service providers.
Any decision regarding future mandatory dental graduate programs would need further consideration by the Dental Board of Australia, which is responsible for registering dentists to practice.
Will this affect my registration or future career options?
VDGYP graduate placements are voluntary and not linked to general registration or future specialist 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 VDGYP placement?
Top of pageParticipants will receive a $15,000 bonus payment for completing the placement.
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 dental professionals who choose to remain in the public sector following their VDGYP placement will remain the responsibility of states and territories.
Is this measure duplicating other state and territory programs?
The measure is expected to build on rather than duplicate or replace existing jurisdictional efforts. A national approach to improving dental workforce capacity in the public sector is needed.
Is this the only Commonwealth program aimed at supporting the dental sector?
The VDGYP 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. Further information on the existing programs can be obtained from the Department’s Acute Care Division.
The Government is also introducing two other dental workforce measures as part of the 2012-13 dental reform package. An oral health therapist (OHT) graduate year program, similar to the VDGYP, will be introduced and support 50 OHT graduate placements each year from 2014. A Dental Relocation and Infrastructure Support Scheme will also be established to encourage and support dentists to relocate to regional, rural and remote areas and to assist in establishing their practices.
In addition, the number of dental undergraduate places has increased in recent years, resulting in an increase in dental graduates from 193 graduates in 2007 to 469 in 2009. This will increase the overall size of the dental workforce in the future.
Further information on Commonwealth funded dental measures is available on the Department of Health an Ageing website.
Where can further information about the Voluntary Dental Graduate Year Program be found?
Information will be placed on the Department’s website as it becomes available or alternatively, AITEC can be contacted via email at admin@aitec.edu.au
The Dental Section, Health Workforce Division, can be contacted via the following email; DWP@health.gov.au.
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