AMA Queensland Council Communiqué
Dear Members
The AMA Queensland Council met on 27 August 2021 following the Extraordinary General Meeting held immediately prior.
Extraordinary General Meeting
An EGM was held to consider and, if thought fit, pass the following resolution as a Special Resolution of AMA Queensland:-
That, with immediate effect after the closure of the Extraordinary General Meeting:
(a) the name of the company is changed from The Queensland Branch of Australian Medical Association Limited to Australian Medical Association Queensland Limited; and
(b) the amended Constitution which is attached to the Notice of Meeting being “Annexure A” to the Explanatory Statement be approved and adopted.
The Explanatory Statement, proposed amended Constitution and related documents had been available on the AMA Queensland website from Monday 26 July 2021.
The EGM was well attended and following a period of discussion, the Special Resolution was passed unanimously by all members present and eligible to vote.
Queensland Health Update
Professor Keith McNeil, Acting Deputy Director General, Prevention Division and Chief Medical Officer and Chief Clinical Information Officer, Queensland Health, provided Council with an update on digital health and data management. The governance oversight of digital systems has been strengthened and AMA Queensland has been invited to nominate a representative for the Digital Clinicians Advisory Committee.
The pressure of mental health on the health system was discussed and the role of data analytics and applications are being explored to support mental health care delivery. Also discussed was the work being undertaken with precision medicine and precision population health care to move towards a resource model based on local area health needs assessments on a geographic basis. In response to concerns raised regarding discharge summaries, Council was advised of a project underway to improve discharge summaries.
Queensland Mental Health system
Prof Brett Emmerson AM, Committee Chair, Queensland Branch, RANZCP, presented on the need to improve mental health and addiction services in Queensland. There is an urgent need to address the wait times to see a mental health specialist – both public and private – in Queensland.
Queensland has the lowest per capita expenditure on mental health of any state. Health budgets have grown by 50 per cent over the years but mental health has only increased by five per cent. GPs and emergency department colleagues advise there are great increases in mental health presentations and public mental health services are overwhelmed.
Council voted to support the RANZCP in calling on the Queensland Government to urgently engage the Queensland Mental Health Commission to carry out a review of the Queensland mental health system.
Committees and Working Groups Review
Council discussed the Committees and Working Groups Review Team’s recommendations as set out in the Discussion Paper. The review seeks to provide clarity and consistency across all committees and working groups in terms of operations, membership and reporting expectations. Council approved the Committees and Working Groups Review Team’s recommendations set out in the Discussion Paper: Committees of Council; to inform the development of an AMA Queensland Committees and Working Groups Policy.
Senior Active Doctors Registration
The Senior Active Doctors Working Group proposed a model of ‘step down’ registration for consideration by Council. This model is in alignment with international initiatives where several countries have set up reserve medical workforces to assist in meeting the demands of the pandemic. The model was discussed and feedback provided to the Working Group for further refinement of the model.
Sustainability ideas and initiatives
Council discussed various sustainability ideas and agreed that it would be beneficial to have a sustainability officer in all hospitals whose role would be to identify and implement sustainability initiatives within the hospital.
The sustainability of the medical workforce was also discussed with an emphasis on the importance of avoiding burnout. Council agreed that there is a need for a Chief Wellness Officer for both the private or public sectors, similar to the model in New South Wales.
President’s Report
President Professor Chris Perry has continued to advocate on numerous issues impacting the profession through his regular meetings with the Health Minister, Opposition leader, Shadow Health Minister, senior members of Queensland Health and other relevant stakeholders.
The President has been busy dealing with the issues relating to the COVID pandemic including the challenges of the vaccination rollout, vaccine passports and vaccine hesitancy, the impact of the Queensland-NSW border restrictions especially on essential workers, and the merits or otherwise of hotel quarantine and purpose built quarantine facilities.
Voluntary assisted dying legislation remains on the radar as the debate continues in the Queensland Parliament. Ambulance ramping, access block and chronic health underfunding of hospitals are being discussed at the Emergency Department Roundtable where potential solutions are being explored.
The AMA Queensland Drug Law Reform Roundtable has been convened with the Mental Health Commissioner as its Chair. It is tasked with exploring how to address the increasing prison population of young first time drug possession offenders and consider the options of non-custodial penalties.
AMA Queensland and ASMOFQ are working closely to provide industrial relation advice and support to our joint members. The combined advocacy of AMA Queensland and ASMOFQ has been a powerful influence in negotiations.
The President continues to attend Local Medical Associations and had the opportunity to meet with the Rockhampton LMA and the Toowoomba LMA. These are great occasions to meet the President informally and find out more about what the AMA Queensland is doing to support doctors in Queensland.
Chief Executive Officer’s Report
CEO Dr Brett Dale provided an update on the many areas that AMA Queensland has supported, promoted and advocated for, on behalf of the medical profession in Queensland including:
- Pill testing – Advocacy supporting the introduction of pill testing at all music festivals in Queensland commenced 30 April but no response has been received to date. This issue remains current and will continue to be pursued with Council support.
- Drug Law Reform – The first meeting was has been held and has the support of the Queensland Police Service. Diversion then decriminalisation is the aim with the focus coming from a health perspective, not a law enforcement angle.
- Task Substitution – There is a need to determine the priority of the increasing models of extended scopes of practice including nurse endoscopists, midwife led maternity services, nurse sedationists and pharmacy and physiotherapy prescribing. This issue is ongoing and there is a need to put together a list of risks for Government.
- Pain Management – Further advocacy is on hold until next year when there will be a call for additional resources through the budget but this year’s budget has been determined.
- Maternity Services – The pre budget document is up for Council to reconsider as we lead into our pre budget submission in February/March 2022 where AMAQ will be asking for funding to extend maternity services.
- Mandatory reporting – there is a commitment from AHPRA to assist in delivering education resources so that the nominee and nominator for mandatory reporting clearly understand their roles. Advocacy is ongoing to change the mandatory reporting model to the Western Australia lite model.
- Palliative care – Call for increased funding will be put forward in our pre budget submission in February/March 2022.
- E- health project – This issue remains as a watching brief until further feedback is received.
- Indigenous surgical access program – This will to be put forward in our pre budget submission in February/March 2022.
- Q-Script – AMAQ is advocating for a longer transition period prior to the implementation of the mandatory requirement to access the QScript database.
For more information, please access AMA Queensland Media statements, position statements and AMA Queensland submissions on the website.
Councillor Reports
Councillors are encouraged to provide reports to Council particularly if there are issues of relevance within their specific representative groups that would be of interest to Council and would inform discussions. Thank you to the following Councillors who provided reports.
- Dr Maria Boulton, Greater Brisbane Representative
- Dr Sarah Coll, Specialist Craft Group Representative
- Dr Dilip Dhupelia, Immediate Past President
- Dr Siyaguna Ekanayake, Greater Brisbane Representative
- Dr Geoffrey Hawson, Senior Doctors Representative
- Dr Fiona Raciti, General Practice Representative
- Dr Maddison Taylor, Doctors in Training Representative
- Dr Nick Yim, General Practice Representative
- Dr Vikas Moudgil, Greater Brisbane Area Representative
- Dr Benjamin Wakefield, Downs and Western QLD Representative
AMA Queensland Council is your representative body. Please feel free to contact me or any of your representative Councillors on any issues that you would like raised at Council.
Please take the time to get to know our Councillors who give up their time generously to represent our profession and feel free to contact your representative directly via the email tabs.
Contact AMA Queensland Council members
Regards,
Dr Eleanor Chew
Chair, AMA Queensland Council