GP Network News, Issue 11, Number 21 - 3 June 2011

New AMA President

Following two years as Vice President, Brisbane GP, Dr Steve Hambleton formally took over as Federal AMA President at last week’s national conference. Dr Hambleton commenced full-time general practice in Queensland in 1987 and has been at the same practice in the Brisbane suburb of Kendron since 1988.

He was the AMA representative on the National Immunisation Committee from 2006 to 2010 and a member of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee for two years until 2009. Dr Hambleton paid tribute to outgoing President, Dr Andrew Pesce saying he would '…continue the established strategy of engaging with Government on shared policy and being critical, as well as offering better solutions when and where necessary…'. '…My focus as President will be to rebuild and regenerate the engine room of health care in Australia – medical practitioners in public and private hospitals and the GPs who serve local communities around Australia….' he said. The full press release is here.

Professor Geoffrey Dobb, an intensive care specialist from Perth is the new Vice President, elected unopposed. Also elected unopposed, Dr Peter Ford, an Adelaide GP was returned as Treasurer. In a three-way contest Dr Roderick McRae, a Melbourne anaesthetist and intensive care physician, is the Chair of Council. The two newly elected Executive Councillors are Melbourne based urologist, Dr Doug Travis and NSW based anaesthetist, Dr Elizabeth Feeney.

State and Territory AMAs recognized for excellence in lobbying and communication

Outgoing AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, presented Presidents and CEOs of the State and Territory AMAs with awards for outstanding work in lobbying and communication at last weekend’s national conference. Categories and recipients included:

• Best State Publication – AMA (ACT) for Canberra Doctor
• Most Innovative Use of Website or Media – AMA (Queensland) for Find A Doctor website and iPhone application
• Best State Health Campaign – AMA (WA) for Anti-smoking campaign
• Best State Lobby Campaign – AMA (WA) for Against the Odds campaign

The full press release is here.

World No Tobacco Day 2011 – 31 May

The AMA put its full support behind Government efforts to stop the tobacco industry using clever and fashionable marketing and advertising techniques to promote the killer smoking habit on World No Tobacco Day. Tobacco companies are still using marketing tactics to entice young people to smoke, despite tough measures by government to combat smoking, AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton said. The AMA strongly supports the Federal Government’s plain packaging legislation, and we urge an end to all forms of tobacco promotion he said. The full press release is here.

AMA Submission on Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records (PCEHR)

The recently lodged AMA submission to the Department of Health and Ageing on the proposed PCEHR expresses concerns that its proposed form will provide limited safety benefits, significantly outweighed by its inherent clinical and medico-legal risks for medical practitioners and the administrative burden it will impose.

The AMA submission advocates for:

• a shared electronic medical record (that sits within a personally-controlled electronic health record) that contains reliable and relevant medical information about individuals that has been posted by medical practitioners;
• health consumer participation in the PCEHR to be opt-out. An opt-in system will mean that doctors eventually give up looking for PCEHRs after failing to find them for other patients; and
• system protocols that align with clinical workflows and integrate with existing medical practice.

The submission highlights that the proposed PCEHR:

• will be extremely complex to use because it is built around exceptions to clinician access and input to the record;
• allows health care providers who are not medical practitioners to upload information;
• allows patients to hide key pieces of medical information, thus compromising its usefulness to medical practitioners;
• creates significant exposure to medico-legal liability for participating medical practitioners;
• must not impose penalties on medical practitioners if they do not use the PCEHR; and
• imposes significant administrative and financial burdens on participating medical practitioners and practices.

The submission concludes that cumulative effect of these points will mean that medical practitioners are unlikely to use the PCEHR in the form proposed. A link to the full 9 page submission is here.

AMA Submission on draft guidelines on Sexual boundaries: A guide for doctors and patients

The recently lodged AMA submission to the Australian Medical Board on draft guidelines for sexual boundaries highlights how important it is to inform registered medical practitioners (doctors), patients, their family and carers, and the wider public of the standard of behaviour expected of doctors in relation to sexual boundaries within the doctor-patient relationship.

It is imperative that doctors understand and respect their ethical and legal duties in relation to sexual boundaries. It is also important that patients, their family members and carers understand and respect these boundaries as well. As such, the AMA believes that the guidelines need to be clear, comprehensive and avoid ambiguity. A link to the submission is here.

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