Australian Medical Association

An increasing number of Australians are at a high risk of serious disease and premature death because of excess body weight or obesity. The National Health and Medical Research Council's (NHMRC) Clinical Guidelines on the Management of Overweight and Obesity is an important resource for medical practitioners who identify and support patients who are overweight and obese.  Medical practitioners also play a preventive role in identifying those patients who are at risk of becoming overweight, particularly children and young people.  

The AMA believes that a key challenge is to ensure that the Clinical Guidelines are practical and easy for medical practitioners to adopt as part of their clinical practice.  The AMA's Submission highlights the key role of medical practitioners in preventing overweight and obesity, particularly among children and young people, as well as providing support to those patients who wish to lose or maintain their current body weight.  The AMA Submission advocates around the development (with appropriate consultation) of practical resources, such as short term eating plans, evidence summaries, multi media videos and fact sheets that can support medical practitioners and patients in this area.

The AMA submission to government on Regionally Tailored Primary Health Care Initiatives through Medicare Locals Fund comments on the role of Medicare Locals, the creation of the Medicare Locals National Body and the utilisation of funds set aside for Medicare Locals.  The AMA highlights the need for Medicare Locals to support GPs in caring for patients, for clarity and transparency in how funds are allocated, and stresses that any savings from the consolidation of funding arrangements must be directed towards supporting services for patients. 

On 2 August 2011, the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments finalised the National Health Reform Agreement. A summary of the Agreement's key points can be found here.

The reform of Australia's primary health care system has paid scant attention to the health of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders. The 2010-11 AMA Indigenous Health Report Card identifies the barriers that Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders experience in accessing high quality primary health care, and makes a series of recommendations on how these barriers can be removed through collaboration and integration between services and health sectors. The AMA believes that the health of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strair Islanders is everyone's responsibility.

The reform of Australia's primary health care system has paid scant attention to the health of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders. The 2010-11 AMA Indigenous Health Report Card identifies the barriers that Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders experience in accessing high quality primary health care, and makes a series of recommendations on how these barriers can be removed through collaboration and integration between services and health sectors. The AMA believes that the health of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strair Islanders is everyone's responsibility.

Medicare Locals have the potential to impact on a wide range of health care services.  The AMA believes they should be introduced in a manner consistent with the AMA's overall health vision and which is respectful of the exisitng role of the General Practitioner and other community based specialists.   This position statement includes details of the AMA position on the governance, functionality, accountability, fundholding and boundaries of Medicare Locals.

The AMA Federal Council, meeting in Canberra today, has voted to oppose the establishment of Medicare Locals and calls on the Government to defer the establishment of any primary health care governance organisations until there has been genuine consultation with the medical profession.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said the AMA has for some time been calling for consultation and more detail about the governance and operation of Medicare Locals, but those calls have been met with silence.

“The AMA cannot support primary care reforms that do not explain how they would benefit patients or communities, and which do not guarantee they would maintain and support the leadership role of GPs in primary care," Dr Pesce said.

MJA Media Release - Children aged four and under are most at risk for asthma attacks from traffic-related air pollution, according to a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Gavin Pereira, epidemiologist at the University of Western Australia and CRC for Asthma and Airways, and co-authors conducted a study to determine whether changes in background ozone, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and particulates increase the risk of hospital emergency department presentations for asthma among children.

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.

Doctors will have an opportunity to have their say on how to fix the health system at two meetings to be hosted by the AMA (NSW) in Sydney next week.

The Federal Government is considering the reports of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission, the Preventative Health Taskforce, and the Draft Primary Health Care Strategy, ahead of developing its health policies for the next election.

The AMA wants to brief doctors on the recommendations in the various reports and hear back from the doctors how they think the system can be improved

AMA Federal Vice President, Dr Steve Hambleton, and AMA (NSW) President, Dr Brian Morton, will discuss primary care reform at a forum for doctors at the Burwood Function Centre, 7-9 Burleigh Street Burwood, from 7.00pm on Tuesday 22 September.

AMA Federal President, Dr Andrew Pesce, and Dr Morton will run a forum on broader health reform at 6.30pm on Thursday 24 September at the John Loewenthal Auditorium at Westmead Hospital, cnr Hawkesbury and Darcy Roads, Westmead.