AMA welcomes investment in specialist medical training
The AMA welcomes Health Minister Tanya Plibersek’s announcement that all training positions in the federally-funded Specialist Training Program have been fully subscribed.
This comes on top of February’s announcement that all 1000 first year GP training places had been filled.
AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said today that, while most specialist training takes place in the public hospital system, the Commonwealth had progressively increased funding to support more specialist training in non-traditional settings, including private hospitals.
“More training in these settings is good for patients as it allows trainees to gain hands-on experience in treating health conditions that are often rarely seen in the public sector,” Dr Hambleton said.
“We now have to build on this strong investment in our future medical workforce, specially at the State and Territory level.
“Medical students numbers have more than doubled.
“By 2014, there will be more than 3700 students graduating from medical schools across the country.
“These graduates still need to be able to progress through prevocational and specialist training, and this will require more training places in our public hospitals and other clinical settings than are currently available – and this is largely the responsibility of the State and Territory Governments,” Dr Hambleton said.
Health Workforce Australia is expected to deliver the National Training Plan (NTP) to Health Ministers at the end of this month. Renamed Health Workforce 2025, the Plan will set the number of prevocational and vocational medical training positions required to match the increased output of medical schools and enhance the capacity of the health system to meet the community’s needs through until 2025.
Dr Hambleton said that the implementation of the Health Workforce 2025 will require significant funding, planning, and coordination, which can only be achieved if there is support at the highest levels across all governments.
“The Commonwealth could maximise the benefit from its medical training investment by convening a specific COAG meeting to reach agreement with the States and Territories on the way forward for Health Workforce 2025,” Dr Hambleton said.
10 April 2012
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