Media release

AMA welcomes government action on medical training

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that the AMA welcomes the Government's decision to accept the major recommendations arising from the Review of the Medical Training Review Panel (MTRP).

Dr Pesce said the medical profession is pleased that the MTRP will have an ongoing expanded role in medical education and training, and that it will work closely with Health Workforce Australia.

“This is great news for medical students and doctors in training,” Dr Pesce said.

The MTRP is the only body that brings together all relevant stakeholders in medical education - including the AMA, medical schools, prevocational medical education councils, medical colleges and health departments.  The MTRP was established in 1997 to monitor and report on the number of medical specialist training places in Australia.

Dr Pesce said that on the MTRP has been a major force in ensuring the number of specialist training places has increased significantly over the last decade.

“The AMA has been promoting an expanded role for the MTRP in monitoring and reporting on the availability of clinical training places, particularly for prevocational doctors such as interns, given the significant increases in medical school places in Australia” Dr Pesce said.

“There will be 2920 domestic graduates from medical schools by 2012, and over 500 international graduates - many of whom will want to stay in Australia.  This will swamp the existing number of intern places, with only 2030 currently available across the country.

“The MTRP will work to ensure all of these graduates can access high quality training positions and advise governments on how to best solve shortages in training places.”

Chair of the AMA Council of Doctors in Training (AMACDT), Dr Andrew Perry, said the looming shortage of training positions for doctors is a major concern to the AMA, medical students and young doctors and that the MTRP’s expanded role is an important part of the solution.

“The Government’s decision now means that the MTRP will cover the whole spectrum of medical education from medical school through to the completion of specialist training,” Dr Perry said.

The AMACDT Trainee Forum met at the weekend and unanimously passed the following motion:

That the AMACDT Trainee Forum endorses and calls on the Federal Government to implement the proposals outlined in the AMA policy paper - Supporting prevocational and vocational training through Health Workforce Australia.

The AMA has written to the Health Minister outlining the AMA policy paper, which calls for the newly formed Health Workforce Australia to provide additional funding to boost training capacity across the system, including support for protected teaching time for senior clinicians, innovative training programs, professional development to help junior doctors in their teaching role, and more medical training in community settings.

16 February 2010

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