Recruitment of Trainees

ANZAN via the Education & Training Committee (ETC) facilitates admission into Advanced Training in Neurology and placement into RACP accredited (core training) positions. 
The ETC, via individual state/NZ subcommittees undertakes interviews of prospective candidates and nominates successful candidates to core training positions in individual hospitals via a national MATCH program. 

The Local Health Network or equivalent remains the employing authority. ANZAN does not have a role in respect of individual work conditions including remuneration, entitlements to superannuation, and annual, sick, and long service leave, which remain with the employing authority. 
The Advanced Training Committee (ATC) in Neurology is a Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) committee and is responsible for all aspects of training once an individual advanced trainee has commenced advanced training 
Selection to Neurology Advanced Training – Australian and New Zealand MATCH PROCESS

1ST (and 2nd) YEAR CORE TRAINING
Eligibility 1st year

Applicants must have successfully completed the basic physician training requirements including successful completion of the Part I and Part II RACP examinations.
Applicants should have permanent residency or citizenship of Australia for Australian applicants or for New Zealand for NZ applicants.
(The employability of overseas trained physicians who do not hold an Australian or New Zealand citizenship or Australian permanent residency for these positions varies between states. Applicants who fall into this category are advised to contact their state director of training well before the state interviews for more specific information).
Applicants must have successfully submitted their application (see below) to the
ANZAN MATCH Website: The opening and closing dates will be available on the ANZAN website.

Application Process 1st Year
The following must be submitted online through the MATCH website
Referees
The name of 3 referees, ideally at least one to be a neurologist, but all referees must be consultant physicians who have had direct supervision of the applicant for at least 3 months within the past 2 years. The applicant must ask each referee to submit a standardised referee report form to the Secretary of ANZAN.  Referees will automatically receive the reference form from ANZAN upon receipt of their contact details.
Assessment Process 1st year
Each candidate will be ranked out of 100. The weighting allocation is as follows:
The CV score will comprise 35% of the total mark.
The interview score comprises 65% of the total mark
Not all applicants proceed to the interview stage and not all interviewed candidates are successful. The state Education Committee chair or nominated representative can provide feedback to unsuccessful candidates.
A candidate must get a minimum of 55/100 points total score to be eligible to enter in to the MATCH process. A score of 55 or above will not guarantee a position, as this is determined by availability and demand.
After the centralised interviews successful 1st year applicants will be notified by Monday 5 August as to whether they were successful or not, in being selected into the advanced training program, to commence in 2025.  
Once notified of the results of the application, successful applicants are encouraged to contact heads of units in their state prior to submitting preferences by 12 August 2024.
Applicants must preference all hospitals in their state to be guaranteed a core position. All heads of unit of training sites in the MATCH will indicate their trainee preferences i.e., will rank all successful applicants. 

Please note that although Victorian/Tasmanian sites and NSW/ACT sites are considered single programs for the purposes of the Match, there may be implications for work entitlements such as sick leave provisions when applying to this program. Note that Victoria and Tasmania as well as NSW and the ACT generally allow transfer of accrued long service leave across state public services. We recommend applicants consult with their local health network for clarification of leave entitlements.

Each component will be added together and this score will enable ranking of each applicant following the interview. The CV will be marked independently by two interstate Neurologists and a consensus mark given. The interview panel is convened by the Chair of the State Education Committee and comprises the respective heads of unit or their representative of each hospital in the state with a core training position. The referee reports will be available to the interview panel for their reference.

Scoring Process 1st Year
Curriculum Vitae
CV scoring
1.      PhD in a neuroscience field – 3 pts (discounted 50% if undertaken prior to medical degree)
2.      PhD in a non-neuroscience field - 2 points (discounted 50% if undertaken prior to medical degree)
3.      BMedSci or other postgraduate degree – done in addition to and separate from the basic degree in medicine – 1 point (discounted 50% if undertaken prior to medical degree)
4.      Neurology elective year predominantly in clinical practice – 3 points
5.      Neurology residency experience – minimum 3 months in a clinical role – 1 point
6.      Original research paper as first author – Please ensure its listed as per a proper reference- 1 point per paper – max 3 points
7.      Other papers (non-first author, or case report even if first author) - Please ensure its listed as per a proper reference - 0.5 points per paper – max 2 points
8.      Platform presentation at national scientific meeting – Please ensure its listed as per a proper reference - 0.5 points per presentation - max 2 points
9.      Poster presentation (first author only), or presentation in a state-wide scientific meeting – 0.5 points maximum 2 points
10.  One or more prize during medical course or training – 0.5 points to maximum 2 points
11.  Significant involvement in hospital committees, RMO association – holding a substantial position or role – please elaborate in detail your role and the work involved – 0.5 points to maximum 2 points
12.  Significant teaching achievements – please elaborate in detail your role and the work involved i.e. helped with undergraduate teaching beyond just on the ward– 0.5 points to maximum 2 points
13.  Non-medical activities that show leadership, application, determination, Personal sacrifice, or voluntary activities for common good – please elaborate in detail your role and the work involved i.e. your specific role in each activity, how frequently you performed this activity and duration – 0.5 points to maximum 2 points
14.  Maximum of 2 points if you have worked in a regional setting in your BPT years i.e. has to be a minimum of 1 year for 1 point. If more than 2 years maximum 2 points.

(Note: it is possible to achieve more than 20 points but the maximum score recorded will be 20 points).

Interview Scoring: 1st year
Each candidate will sit an interview in the State or region in which they wish to train. The interview panel will be made up of a representative from each hospital, and is chaired by the state lead of the ANZAN education and training committee. At the interview a number of standardised questions will be asked. Each interviewer will score each answer independently and then provide an independent score for the entire interview. The scores will be submitted by each interviewer and then calculated to provide a score out of 65% for the candidate. This will then be added to the CV score to provide each candidate with a mark out of 100. At the end of the interview, the panel ranks applicants based on these scores.

2nd YEAR CORE TRAINING
Advanced trainees seeking appointment to a 2nd year of core training need to reapply using the same process as 1st year, without the need for a state interview.
The following must be submitted online through the MATCH website:

Curriculum Vitae
The name of 3 referees, at least two of whom must be a neurologist. The applicant must ask each referee to submit a standardised referee report form to the Secretary of ANZAN.  Referees will automatically receive the reference form from ANZAN upon receipt of their contact details.
Advanced Trainees are expected to complete their two years of core training at different hospitals unless there are exceptional circumstances which prevent this.
A second consecutive year of core training is guaranteed subject to satisfactory supervisor’s reports, and on the basis that when submitting applications for the following year, the applicant applies for all positions within their state (see MATCH process below). 

The MATCH process 1st and 2nd year
All 2nd year applicants, and 1st year candidates equal to the available number of positions who meet the predetermined cut-off score will be asked to submit on line a list of hospital positions in order of preference. This will be matched against each hospital’s preference list of candidates using the RACP matching algorithm for advanced training.
If a candidate does not wish to work at a certain hospital (for example, a regional centre) they must not enter that in to the MATCH, however this may affect their chance of getting a core position.
The candidate must number their preferences from 1 to X, X being the number of hospitals with available training positions that the candidate is willing to work at. If a hospital has more than one position the candidate DOES NOT enter that hospital multiple times. For example, the RAH has 3 core jobs, however the candidate does not enter the RAH as preference 1, 2 and 3 if the RAH is their first preference, they simply list it as preference 1. The matter is different for the heads of units, whereby in the above example the HOU of the RAH would list their 3 top-ranked candidates as preference 1.

MATCH Outcome: 1st and 2nd year
After the match is complete, applicants and hospitals are informed of the results of the selection process within 7-10 days and for those successfully matched, no changes will be considered. Appointments are for a single year of training.
Unmatched applicants and hospitals with unmatched positions are also notified. Filling these vacancies is conducted by way of negotiation between individual hospitals and candidates.

Applicants: Commencing 2024, if an applicant has not achieved a passing score of >50% on the interview on two occasions or a total score of >55/100 (including CV) on two occasions the applicant will no longer be eligible to apply for entry to the RACP Neurology training program.

Accredited Training Positions

(This information is subject to updates to core posts in some states.)

Please note that although hospitals are listed state by state below, for the purposes of matching applicants to hospitals, Canberra Hospital (ACT) is included with NSW hospitals, and Royal Hobart Hospital and Launceston (TAS) is included with Victorian hospitals.

• New South Wales/ACT
• Queensland
• South Australia
• Victoria/Tas
• Western Australia
• New Zealand