Medical student training funding welcome and must be supported by graduate training places

Dr Pesce said the funding would only deliver the desired future medical workforce results if it were complemented with comprehensive workforce planning arrangements and extra training places for medical graduates once they have finished their university courses.

“Long term planning is needed for the medical workforce training required for students graduating from medical school to ensure that they have a seamless journey on their way to becoming fully trained doctors,” Dr Pesce said.

“Today’s announcement addresses the start of the training process for the larger numbers of medical students, and we now need to see cooperation between governments to guarantee intern, prevocational, vocational training for these students after they graduate.

“There was broad consensus at the AMA’s recent Medical Training Summit for a range of concrete strategies that must be put in place to address these needs.  With the increasing number of medical students coming through our university system, these post-university training needs are more acute than ever.

“The Government indicated today that Health Workforce Australia (HWA) would undertake a comprehensive set of profession and specialty specific training plans for graduating nurses and medical officers, and would work on the issue of clinical placements for overseas students.

“The AMA will offer its support and advice to HWA for this work,” Dr Pesce said.

Dr Pesce said the AMA would be calling on all governments and HWA to incorporate the recommendations of the AMA Summit into their future medical workforce planning.  The specific AMA Summit recommendations related to additional roles and responsibilities for HWA for postgraduate medical training are:

• HWA to establish a Medical Workforce Planning Advisory Committee to complete an analysis of community demand for medical services and associated medical workforce requirements, medical school intakes and graduate numbers, demand for international medical graduates and need for training places by the end of 2011;
• By the end of 2012, the Australian Health Ministers’ Conference (AHMC) should adopt recommendations from the HWA studies (above), including a guarantee to provide the number of prevocational and vocational training places recommended to 2020; and
• The Commonwealth’s 60 per cent funding for teaching should be conditional on States and Territories funding and delivering prevocational and vocational places as recommended by HWA and agreed by the AHMC.

The full AMA Summit Joint Statement is on the AMA website at http://ama.com.au/node/6102

13 October 2010

CONTACT:            John Flannery                       02 6270 5477 / 0419 494 761

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