Medical Position Titles
Policy and Procedures
Scope
Su
p
O er
D
s
A u : ed
gu 05 ed
st 44 b
20 /14 y:
14
This policy applies to all persons employed in WA Health, which incorporates
the following entities:
•
•
•
•
Department of Health
Metropolitan Health Services
Peel Health Service
WA Country Health Service.
This is a system wide policy and supersedes all workplace policies and
procedures related to medical position titles.
Policy Statement
Position titles for medical practitioners working in WA Health are standardised.
Standardised naming conventions assist WA Health to accurately profile,
map, plan and manage the composition of the workforce.
The Medical Position Titles List (the List) is the official list of all medical
position titles in WA Health. Every medical position must be assigned a
position title from the List, which is provided at Appendix One.
The Medical Directors Forum is the custodian of the List and medical
workforce staff (and equivalents) are responsible for assigning a title to each
position.
The change, addition or deletion of medical titles must be approved by the
Chair Medical Directors Forum (or their delegate).
Principles
The following principles apply to the allocation and use medical position titles:
1.
Medical position titles should actually reflect the function and main
purpose of the role in a way that is clear and recognisable.
2.
As a general principle, medical position titles are made up of three
components:
• hierarchy/rank order
• role/specific occupational group
• function/area of work (as needed).
Examples of position titles include:
• Consultant – Physician - Cardiology
• Consultant – Surgeon - Plastic Surgery
• Registrar – Trainee - Emergency Medicine
Some medical position titles reflect general titles contained in the DoH
Medical Practitioner industrial agreements and may not follow the
naming convention described above, for example:
• Senior Medical Practitioner
• Health Service Medical Practitioner
• Supervised Medical Officer.
Su
p
O er
D
s
A u : ed
gu 05 ed
st 44 b
20 /14 y:
14
3.
4.
The naming convention limits the number of characters for each
position title to 35 in the ALESCO information system. This means that
in many cases, position titles will need to be abbreviated.
5.
Abbreviations are standardised. This means that words are abbreviated
in the same way whenever they are used in position titles, for example:
• Cons – Endocrine Surgeon
• Cons – Emer Med
• Cons – Emer Med Ultrasound.
6.
Special characters such as ; # / = ? & '' ( ) ‘ , % cannot be used in
position titles.
7.
The allocation of a position title should be based on the service an
occupant is delivering and not on their skills or qualifications.
8.
Dual roles required by WA Health will be reflected in the job title, for
example:
• Consultant - Pathologist - Physician - Haematology
• Consultant - Obstetrician and Gynaecologist.
9.
Professors with honorary titles will not be assigned to clinical academic
positions unless they are contracted or appointed as clinical
academics.
10.
When doctors in training rotate, they will be moved and allocated to a
new position.
11.
Job Description Forms (JDFs) will have both full and abbreviated
position titles e.g. full position name followed by abbreviated position
name in brackets, for example:
• Consultant Paediatrician Urology (Cons Paed Urol)
• Registrar Service Infectious Diseases (Reg Serv Infectious
Diseases).
12.
JDFs will be updated to include standardised position titles from the
List when positions are advertised on a temporary or permanent basis.
Page 2 of 5
13.
When advertising a vacant position on a permanent basis, an N4
(Request to Advertise) form together with an updated JDF should be
forwarded to Health Corporate Network (HCN) Employment Services
([email protected]).
14.
When advertising a vacancy on a temporary basis, the JDF should be
updated with a position title from the List.
Su
p
O er
D
s
A u : ed
gu 05 ed
st 44 b
20 /14 y:
14
Procedure
The objective of this procedure is to outline the process for creating, changing,
and deleting a position title from the List. This process is illustrated in a
flowchart on page 4 of this document.
Medical Position Titles Review Panel (the Panel)
The Medical Position Titles Review Panel reviews and makes a determination
on proposals to add, change or delete a medical position title.
The Panel includes representatives from:
• Medical Directors Forum - Chair or nominee
• medical workforce departments of metropolitan teaching hospitals,
metropolitan secondary hospitals and WA Country Health
• Workforce Directorate, Department of Health
• HCN Establishment Unit
• Health Industrial Relations Service Classifications Unit.
The role of the panel is to:
• review and make a determination on proposals submitted to add,
change or delete a medical position title
• maintain and update the List located at
http://intranet.health.wa.gov.au/policies/doh_policy.cfm
• advise medical workforce department (and equivalents) by email of
changes made to the List
• provide general advice to staff on matters relating to titles on the List.
All requests for adding, changing or deleting a medical position title are to be
forwarded to [email protected]
Page 3 of 5
Page 4 of 5
Su
p
O er
D
s
A u : ed
gu 05 ed
st 44 b
20 /14 y:
14
Definitions
Position title
Is a descriptor that accurately reflects the function and main purpose of the
occupant of a position in an organisation.
Authority
Director General on 11 August 2011
Review Date:
11 August 2012
Accessing
Policies
via the whole of Health Holii policies link at:
http://intranet.health.wa.gov.au/policies/doh_policy.cfm
Primary
Contact:
Medical Directors Forum
Email: [email protected]
Su
p
O er
D
s
A u : ed
gu 05 ed
st 44 b
20 /14 y:
14
Endorsed by:
Please Note:
The links in this document are provided as a service. Links to documents can
be volatile. If the link is broken you may need to search for the document.
Printed copies can only be valid at the time of printing.
This information is available in alternative formats upon a request form a
person with a disability.
Page 5 of 5