Australian Medical Association

Food provides our bodies with the energy, protein, essential fats, vitamins and minerals to live, grow and function properly.  Concerning trends have been observed in the eating habits of many Australians and the implications are serious. The National Health and Medical Research Council's (NHMRC) Draft Australian Dietary Guidelines 2011 provides population level guidance on healthy eating patterns and related guidance for health professionals.  

The AMA's Submission highlights that a range of measures is needed to improve nutritional literacy, including education on energy needs and portion sizes, improved food labelling, and affordable access to healthy food options.  The AMA Submission also identifies a need for practical resources aimed at medical practitioners including access to a database of locally available supports such dieticians, healthy cooking classes and walking groups.

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.

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.

United General Practice Australia (UGPA) – comprising the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, the Australian Medical Association, the Australian General Practice Network, General Practice Registrars Australia, the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, and the Rural Doctors Association of Australia – met in Canberra today.

UGPA reached agreement on key areas of primary care reform and will urge the Government to consult closely with the medical profession as it progresses with the establishment of Medicare Locals and introduces changes to GP after-hours care and collaborative care arrangements.

AMA has supported the need for reform to Australia's health system, particularly the issue of responsibility for public hospitals and the linkages with other parts of the health system such as primary care and aged care.  The Government has said Medicare Locals are the mechanism to improve these linkages.  Our usual preference would be for less bureaucratic mechanisms than are suggested in the discussion paper.  We represent doctors who like to behave in an efficient manner, responsive to the needs of their patients, to be independent and accountable to their patients and free, to the maximum extent possible, of bureaucratic red tape.

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

MJA Media Release - Homeless people with mental illness lack access to primary care and seldom visit a GP at all, according to research published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Dr Qun Mai and her co-authors from The University of Western Australia conducted a retrospective cohort study of 204,727 users and 294,076 matched non-users of mental health services in WA from 1 January 1990 to 30 June 2006.

They found that users of mental health services visited GPs significantly more often than non-users, with an overall adjusted rate ratio (ARR) of visits to GPs in this group of 1.622.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said that the Primary Health Care Organisations (PHCOs) announced today by the Government will need to be closely monitored and will require GP leadership if they are to deliver better health outcomes for communities.

Dr Pesce said the AMA is on the record as being opposed to the PHCO concept but, recognising that the Government was pursuing a PHCO policy, the AMA sought input to help determine their arrangements and ensure the key primary care role of GPs was preserved and supported.

“The AMA has consistently opposed any arrangement that would involve managed care of patients outside of the care provided by their normal doctor, and we have always opposed any interference in the doctor-patient relationship,” Dr Pesce said.

“Following representations from the AMA, the Government has made it clear that this is not how PHCOs would operate.

“Further, the Prime Minister has agreed with the AMA that PHCOs must complement the work of a patient's general practitioner."

The AMA supports high quality primary health care services that are convenient for patients and enhance patient access.

Incorporating pharmacy services into general practice would improve patient care, and medication management in particular, by allowing GPs to lead a team of co-located health professionals, including pharmacists, in providing collaborative health care to local patients.

A General Practice Pharmacy could be established within or next to an existing general practice and there should be the option for doctor owned pharmacies as an integral part of providing patients with convenient access to primary care services. Pharmacists would still retain the professional and legal responsibility for dispensing medicines, independent of the GP.

To enable these services to be established, the current restrictions on pharmacy location and ownership need to be lifted.

The AMA Ethics and Medico Legal Committee is developing guidelines for members on managing potential conflicts of interest that may arise from pharmacy ownership by the medical profession.

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.