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.

AMA President Dr Steven Hambleton said tonight that the government had done the right thing by sparing health from broad funding cuts to provide a budget for tough economic times and to fund a budget surplus.

“Health has generally been sheltered from the budget cuts,” Dr Hambleton said.

The AMA welcomes the Prime Minister’s announcement that the first stage of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) will commence from July next year.

AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said today that the AMA has been pushing for a national long-term care scheme for the severely disabled since 2003.

The AMA has warned patient access to medical care could become increasingly difficult unless urgent action is taken to address a looming shortfall of training places for medical graduates.

The AMA says a report released by the nation’s Health Ministers today shows there is a desperate need for Governments to fund extra pre-vocational and specialist training places in order to keep pace with the number of graduates emerging from medical schools.

The AMA congratulates the Government on its Living Longer Living Better plan to support older Australians, in particular the measures to assist them to live in their homes for longer, but is disappointed that the issue of access to quality medical care has not been properly addressed.

AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said that the plan is a strong response to a policy area that has been long neglected, but the Government should have gone the extra step of giving older Australians the comfort of knowing they could get access to their doctors at a time of life when they most need them.

AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, has written to Health Minister, Tanya Plibersek, urging the Government to fund extra specialised support and supervision for international medical graduate (IMG) doctors, especially those working in rural and regional Australia.

The AMA recommends that new funding should be allocated to General Practice Education and Training (GPET), an organisation with the capacity and infrastructure to provide this additional support for IMG doctors working in general practice.

In a submission to the Medical Board of Australia (MBA), the AMA is calling on the Board to fund better access to doctors' health services across the country.

AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said today that the AMA’s submission to the MBA highlights the evidence that doctors are at greater risk of mental illness and stress-related problems and are more susceptible to substance abuse than the general population.

The AMA today released the AMA Position Statement on Regional/Rural Workforce Initiatives 2012, which sets out a practical achievable plan to attract doctors and medical students to live and work in rural and regional Australia.

AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said that the AMA has for some time identified medical workforce shortage as a major health issue, particularly in regional and rural Australia.

The AMA has updated and split the content of its Position Statement on Human Genetic Issues 1998. Revised 2000. Revised 2002. to produce the AMA Position Statement on Genetic Testing 2012 and the AMA Position Statement on Human Cloning 2012.

The AMA Position Statement on Genetic Testing 2012 is more contemporary and reflects current issues relevant to genetic testing.

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.