Australian Medical Association

The provision of out-of-hours care is a key part of general practice. The AMA Out-of-Hours Primary Medical Care 2011 position statement has been developed to guide the design of these services, outlining the essential feature of a successful model of out-of-hours primary medical care.

This submission responds to the HWA draft background paper - Rural and Remote Health Workforce Innovation and Reform Strategy released in July 2011 as part of the consultation process.

The AMA believes it is important that the Government gets it right to ensure that the health workforce in rural and remote areas is sustainable and that people in rural communities can access affordable, appropriate health care services when needed.

The AMA submission to the Productivity Commission outlined how the promised administrative efficiencies and economies of scale of the national scheme have not been realised for the medical profession. The scheme:

• has increased compliance costs for the medical profession;
• has introduced administrative red tape;
• lacks clarity on the handling of notifications;
• has introduced mandatory reporting requirements that must be thoroughly evaluated before its impact is properly understood; and
• requires greater transparency and accountability of AHPRA administration for each registered health profession.

The AMA today released its Position Statement on Prevocational Medical Education and Training – 2011.

AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said that the significant increase in medical student numbers in Australia puts additional pressures on the health system to provide clinical training for students and junior doctors.

“The AMA has called for an overarching medical workforce plan that ensures there is an appropriate number of adequately funded undergraduate, prevocational and vocational training places,” Dr Hambleton said.

Interested in working abroad as a junior doctor?  "A Guide to Working Abroad for Australian Medical Students and Junior Doctors" (the Guide) has been developed by the AMA Council of Doctors-in-Training (AMACDT) and Australian Medical Students' Association (AMSA) to meet a strong demand from medical students and junior doctors for evidence based and practical information on studying and training overseas.

Written by eight junior doctors in consultation with a range of Australian experts, the 90 page Guide is the gold standard for any medical student or junior doctor seeking to organise safe and rewarding placements and rotations abroad.

The Guide is available as an electronic supplement to the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA).

The AMA has made a submission to the review of the Medicare provider number legislation. We have called for a number of measures including medical training initiatives; the introduction of a single Medicare provider number for all practice locations; and the grandfathering of pre-1996 non-vocationally registered general practitioners who were accessing GP Medicare rebates prior to 1 November 1996 and have predominantly been in general practice for a minimum of five years since that date.

The 2008 national partnership agreement on hospital and health workforce reform includes a specific component to expand clinical training supervision capacity and competence.  $28 million has been set aside to expand clinical supervision capacity across the health professions.

Health Workforce Australia (HWA) prepared a discussion paper to consider supervision across professions and the educational continuum from professional entry through to postgraduate and vocational training. The AMA prepared a submission to HWA on the discussion paper.

Supporting the medical workforce

The topic of the Conference – ‘10 Years From Now’ – is very appropriate given the era of health reform in which we are all operating at the moment.

We do need to plan for the future.

This session is titled ‘Medical Practitioner Registration and Training – issues for CHA facilities in 2010 and beyond’.

An important part of the future of our health system is the medical workforce.

This Position Statement examines the role of general practice in the delivery of primary care services in Australia.

The Australian Medical Education Study report – What makes for success in medical education? – endorses calls by the AMA for greater investment in medical education and training to produce a medical workforce capable of meeting the future health needs of a growing and ageing population.

The study undertook research between 2005 and 2007 involving all the major stakeholders, and included surveys of medical students, junior doctors, educators and employers.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that the report highlights the high international rating of an Australian medical education but advises that more needs to be done to properly fund and resource medical training in Australia.