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Update on Community Based Attachments in Prevocational Training

28 September 2015

The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, (the College), Medical Council of New Zealand (the Council), HWNZ and the District Health Boards are working together to implement the staged introduction of the community based attachments for Post-Graduate Years 1 and 2 (PGY1 and PGY2).  The Council approved a staged transition, with a goal of 10 percent of interns completing a community based clinical attachment from November 2015 and working towards 100 percent compliance by November 2020.

Community based attachments are for 13 weeks in community based settings with a focus on caring for the patient and managing their illness in the context of their family and community. The community based clinical attachment is led by a vocationally registered doctor and needs to be accredited by the Council.

Community based attachments can take place in a wide variety of settings including but not exclusive to general practice, urgent care, hospice, community mental health and other community based services including “integrated care” attachments focusing on chronic disease management in the community. Clinical attachments that are based in a hospital that has been approved as a rural hospital, and run predominantly by doctors registered in the vocational scope of rural hospital medicine or general practice, will also meet the criteria of a community attachment.

The College has responsibility for building training capacity and capability within general practice and will become the prime point of contact both for general practices who may wish to know more about community based attachments and District Health Boards who are seeking advice in regard to general practice focused clinical attachments. The College, in collaboration with the universities, will provide a leadership role in the development and coordination of all placements for medical students, PGY1 and PGY2 and GPEP registrars in general practice.

HWNZ, in conjunction with the Council and District Health Boards, is leading the coordination of community based clinical attachments outside of general practice, including urgent care,  hospice, community mental health and other community based services.

Any service wishing to establish a community based placement will need to link with a District Health Board, who allocate blocks of four clinical attachments to each intern each year.

If you are interested in finding out more or have any questions please contact:

Posted 28 September 2015

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