University of Tasmania, Australia

A conjoint appointment is one where an individual employee has responsibilities and rights in relation to both Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the University of Tasmania (UTAS) but is singularly employed by one employer, ie the employer where they spend the majority of their time.

The aims of conjoint appointments are:

• To create a more sustainable health workforce for Tasmania's future
• To provide quality education/training to current and future students and
• To assist in the recruitment and retention of high quality staff to Tasmania

Any conjoint appointment is also linked with local health workforce planning and identified workforce needs in both organisations.

Conjoint Appointments assist both the University of Tasmania and the Department of Health and Human Services to meet their shared Strategic Objective of:

Working collaboratively to assist in the development of workforce planning and strategies that will help to address Tasmania's future health workforce needs

• As a member of both organisations with responsibilities and rights within each, the appointee can contribute to and gain from both organisations
• In academic areas the appointee can undertake supervision of Research Higher Degree Candidates and, through their associated research group, attract Commonwealth Research Training and Research Performance Funds through the University to their research groups for future research support
• Conjoint appointees have full membership of both the relevant DHHS division and the University School
• Conjoint appointees have the ability to progress their career in both clinical service areas and academic areas simultaneously

• The ability to attract and retain candidates of the highest calibre in both clinical service delivery and academic standing;
• More junior staff are attracted to a clinical setting where their further training is assured from both clinical and academic perspective;
• Health service standards and availability of clinicians in specialist areas are more likely to be ensured if appointments are linked to academic departments;
• There is an explicit link between quality of clinical care and the academically derived evidence base for that case;
• Health and medical research outputs may be enhanced through the increased collaboration of clinical, scientific and epidemiological researchers.

The Policy and Procedure that governs Conjoint Appointments has recently been updated.
This document details the policy and procedure that should be followed when proposing a new/or renewing an existing conjoint appointment.

This Policy and Procedure is relevant to the following groups of staff within DHHS and UTAS:

• Conjoint Employees
• CEO or Business Unit Director in the DHHS
• Head of Schools in UTAS
• Human Resources staff in the DHHS and UTAS
• PiH Board
• Deputy Secretaries in the DHHS
• Dean of the Faculty of Health Science, UTAS
• Finance staff in either organisation

Other documents which support this Policy and Procedure can also be obtained by following the links described below:

• Appendix I (PDF 116KB) - Conjoint Appointment New Proposal Procedure Flowchart
• Appendix II (PDF 120KB) - Conjoint Appointment Renewal Procedure Flowchart
  
• Appendix III (PDF 147KB) - Conjoint Appointment Proposal/Agreement
• Appendix IV (PDF 73KB) - Conjoint Appointment Guidance on Terms of Employment
• Appendix V (PDF 90KB) - Conjoint Appointment Evaluation Form
• Conjoint Appointment Proposal/Agreement  - Word Template | Attachments - February 2012
• Conjoint Appointment Evaluation Form – Word Template - December 2011
• Conjoint Appointments Policy and Procedure (PDF 262KB)

Further Support and Assistance for Employees and Employers

For further information in relation to new conjoint appointments or the renewal of existing conjoint positions please contact your relevant Head of School/CEO or Business Unit Director or your Human Resources representative.