Australian Medical Association

AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said today that last night’s Budget cuts to Practice Incentive Payments (PIP) to GPs will have a double negative impact on the health system by penalising GPs for not meeting new higher targets for cervical cancer screening and specialised diabetes care and removing incentives for immunisation.

Dr Hambleton said these measures, along with changes to the e-health PIP, have the potential to pose serious public health risks and undermine successful preventive health programs that are providing health benefits to many Australians.

The AMA strongly believes that strong support for health and medical research is necessary to ensure that the best and most efficient health care is available to all Australians. Australia has been falling behind other countries in its funding and strategic long-term commitments to health and medical research. This submission to the McKeon Review outlines how Australia can regain its position as a world leader in health and medical innovation.

In September 2011, the AMA hosted a summit of public health and police stakeholders to consider advice to the Australian Government on reform of alcohol taxation and pricing. A Communique was issued which outlined a consensus view on options for reform.

MJA release - It is clear that the problem of unhealthy consumption and the associated health consequences are societal problems that require a societal approach, Dr Ken Harvey, from La Trobe University, Melbourne, argues in the latest edition of the Medical Journal of Australia.

Transcript: AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, and National Alliance for Action on Alcohol (NAAA) Co-Chair, Prof Mike Daube

                Media Conference

                AMA House, Canberra

               Wednesday, 28 September 2011

Subject:   Alcohol tax reform; Penicillin shortage

AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, today questioned why the Government was reluctant to approach alcohol taxation reform and why it had excluded alcohol tax from next month’s Tax Forum.

“The Government has a strong record in public health with tobacco plain packaging and the alcopops tax, and it should be building on this momentum,” Dr Hambleton said.

“The evidence for the need for alcohol tax reform is considerable and beyond challenge.

The AMA today urged the Government to adopt the alcohol health warning labels concept launched today by the Alcohol Education & Rehabilitation (AER) Foundation.

AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said today that warning labels should be mandatory on alcohol products, especially as a deterrent to teenage drinking and drinking when pregnant.

“Health warning labels on alcohol must contain clear, strong messages about the negative health effects of excessive or irresponsible drinking,” Dr Hambleton said.

A new report shows that teenagers often consume alcohol at harmful levels.

AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said today that this is further evidence that targeted marketing of alcohol to young people should be banned to prevent them from taking up drinking at a young age.

“These latest figures show that young people who are barely in their teens have already started drinking alcohol, and those who are older are drinking at harmful levels,” Dr Hambleton said.

AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said today that health warning labels on alcohol must be clearer and tougher about the health effects of excessive or irresponsible drinking and must be accompanied by a crackdown on the marketing and advertising of alcohol, especially to teenagers.

Dr Hambleton said that warning labels are necessary on alcohol products, especially in relation to teenage drinking and drinking when pregnant, but they would not be effective unless they were more specific about the range and severity of health problems associated with excessive alcohol consumption.

“The labels introduced voluntarily by the industry do not go far enough,” Dr Hambleton said.

Welcoming the Coalition’s support for the Government’s tobacco plain packaging legislation, AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said today that the community would benefit if a bipartisan approach extended to other important public health issues such as obesity and alcohol.

Dr Hambleton said that public health should be above partisan ideologies and political pointscoring.

“The Coalition has done the right thing in supporting the Government on plain packaging,” Dr Hambleton said.