Australian Medical Association

This position statement sets out the principles the AMA considers should underpin the national introduction of time-based targets for public hospital emergency departments (EDs) in order that patient safety and outcomes, quality of care and the training of doctors are not compromised.

The management of hospitals works best when doctors are engaged in clinical and corporate governance. The AMA has developed a detailed policy as a basis for effective and genuine doctor engagement in hospital management.

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Agreement 2010 outlines the agreement reached by all jurisdictions, except Western Australia, to establish a National Health and Hospitals Network (NHHN). The NHHN Agreement incorporates structural reforms as well as additional investments in hospital, primary and aged care services, and preventive care in mental health and diabetes health care.

Further initiatives announced in the Commonwealth Government’s Budget on 12 May 2010 include support for practice nurses, improved primary care infrastructure and the roll-out of electronic health records, bringing the total new health investment over the next five years to $7.3 billion.

The Commonwealth Government plans to introduce this Bill to make amendments to the legislation that underpins the Professional Services Review (PSR) scheme.

The Department of Health and Aging has recently met with the AMA to discuss and explain the current proposed amendments.

The AMA has made a submission to the Department of Health and Ageing on the exposure draft of the Bill.

In November 2008 the Council of Australian Governments' agreed to introduce a nationally-consistent approach to activity-based funding for public hospital services to allow comparisons of efficiency across public hospitals.

Subsequently, the Australian Government asked the Productivity Commission to examine and report on the relative performance of the public and private hospital systems. In June 2009, the Productivity Commission released a paper seeking information and feedback on a range of issues including treatment costs, including out-of-pocket patient expenses and rates of fully-informed financial consent, rates of hospital-acquired infections and other relevant performance indicators.

Below are the two submissions the AMA made to the Productivity Commission on the Performance of public and private hospital systems. The AMA submissions also address the Commission's term of reference on informed financial consent.

The AMA Public Hospital Report Card 2009 is an analysis of the most up-to-date national data on public hospital performance plus more recent feedback from doctors working in public hospitals in all States and Territories.

It shows that Australia’s public hospitals continue to be seriously under-funded and are struggling to meet growing public demand for their services.

People still experience excessive waits in emergency departments and excessive waits for admission to a hospital bed. Waiting times for elective surgery have been getting longer.

The growing number of Australians at risk of serious chronic diseases from obesity, smoking and excess alcohol use is a major health challenge facing Australia. This AMA Policy Brief, Preventing Obesity, Smoking and Excess Alcohol Use, summarises some key measures that the AMA believes should be given priority in a National Preventative Health Strategy, including support for the preventative role of doctors and implementation of a number of targeted community-level measures.

The AMA President, Dr Rosanna Capolingua, has written to the Minister for Health and Ageing to seek assurances that there will be sufficient clinical training positions for interns and specialist trainees in the public sector.

AMA's views on rural health care delivery to the Department of Health and Ageing.

The AMA highlights that the major shortfall in current rural health programs is the overall lack of funding.

The AMA also calls for the Rural, Remote and Metropolitan Areas (RRMA) classification system that is used by the department to target many of its rural workforce programs to be retained and enhanced.

AMA Position Statement: Clinical support time for public hospital doctors - 2009

The AMA defines clinical support time as protected time for duties that are not directly related to individual patient care. Clinical support duties encompass most aspects of the teaching, continuing professional development, clinical governance, administration and research activities undertaken by clinicians in the public health sector.

The purpose of this position statement is to specify a minimum benchmark of remunerated time for clinical support duties for senior and junior clinicians. It includes a comprehensive list of the roles and responsibilities that constitute clinical support time to assist with developing job descriptions and work schedules.

The AMA's response to Matter number AM 2008/13.

The AMA has made a submission in response to the draft national awards and also appeared before AIRC hearings in Sydney. The AMA has argued that the new awards may result in cost increases for some private medical practices as they prescribe, in some cases, more generous working conditions than those contained in existing awards. The AMA submission called on the AIRC to bring working conditions in the proposed awards back into line with current awards so that medical practices are not hit with increases in costs.

AMA Public Hospital Report Card 2008

An AMA analysis of Australia's public hospital system.

AMA Submission to the Maternity Services Review - 2008

AMA Position Statement: Ethical Considerations for Medical Practitioners in Public Health Emergencies in Australia - 2008

The attached submission has been prepared by the AMA Council of Doctors in Training (AMACDT)

Health and the 2008-09 Federal Budget

AMA Work-life flexibility survey report

AMA submission to DoHA regarding proposed secondary legislation to support the Health Insurance Amendment (Inappropriate and Prohibited Practices and Other Measures) Act 2007.

The AMA sees the 2008-09 Federal Budget as an opportunity for the incoming Commonwealth Government to reclaim its responsibility for health care and to strengthen the partnerships with those who share responsibility more broadly.

AMA Public Hospital Report Card 2007

Submission to Senate Community Affairs Committee regarding Patient Assisted Travel Schemes May 2007

The AMA 2007-08 Federal Health Budget analysis was prepared by Access Economics and puts Budget health spending into context with total Budget outlays and previous Health Budgets. It also examines any likely longer-term impacts. Key observations of the Access Economics reports include: health spending is about constant with a share of total outlays; more than half the new measures are remedial in character and cannot be sold as 'new' money; high marks for realigning health spending priorities to better meet the needs of an ageing population suffering more chronic disease; high marks for a number of new spending initiatives that focus on areas with real opportunities to improve health outcomes.

AMA Position Statement: Social Determinants of Health and the Prevention of Health Inequities - 2007

AMA Position Statement: Quality and Safety in Public Hospitals - 2006

AMA Position Statement: Public Health - 2006

A discussion paper outlining initiatives to support general practice services to Residential Aged Care Facilities.

AMA Position Statement: General Practice and Public Hospital Integration Position Statement - 2006

AMA Position Statement Employment of Medical Students in Hospitals - 2006

The good, the bad, and the ugly of the 2006-07 Federal Budget.

AMA Position Statement: Workplace Facilities and Accommodation for Hospital Doctors - 2006