President and CEO update - April 2023
Stability and consistency are so important in presenting a united voice for our profession to government, members, the community and the media. We are humbled and pleased to let you know that Dr Maria Boulton and Dr Nick Yim have been re-elected unopposed as President and Vice President of AMA Queensland. We are grateful for the confidence our members have shown in the leadership over the past year, and we will continue to work hard for our members, the entire profession, and the community.
Drug law reform
The Queensland parliament has passed amendments to expand the police diversion scheme for cannabis to all other drugs, meaning people found with small amounts of drugs are diverted to education and treatment instead of facing criminal charges.
This move is strongly supported by the Queensland Police Service. It is expected to divert 17,000 people from the police and legal system in its first year as part of an evidence-based, health-focused approach to minor personal drug use.
AMA Queensland has been calling for this change since our drug reform roundtable in July 2021 as a sensible step to harm reduction.
In our submission, we called for any savings realised by criminal justice agencies from these changes to be reallocated to Queensland Health for GP and community alcohol and other drug treatment services.
It is critical that our already swamped diversion services are properly resourced to treat this influx of new clients.
Mental health and wellbeing
The Queensland Parliament has passed new laws to help safeguard the mental health and wellbeing of doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers.
With our Committee of Doctors in Training (CDT), we advocated hard for laws to make Hospitals and Health Services (HHSs) and their boards responsible for staff wellbeing and for promoting cultures that support health, safety and wellbeing.
This was a major focus of last November’s Queensland Health Workforce and Wellbeing Summit, also held as a direct result of our advocacy.
Our Resident Hospital Health Check found 28 per cent of junior doctors felt unsafe at work, and 58 per cent were concerned about making a clinical error due to fatigue related to long works hours. Fewer than half were satisfied with the hospital facilities and the quality of formal teaching and training.
Making HHS boards directly accountable for fixing these cultural and systematic issues will help us retain our medical and healthcare workforces into the future.
Payroll tax
This month has seen yet another jurisdiction – the ACT – start auditing GPs for payroll tax purposes following the Thomas and Naaz ruling in the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Queensland is the only state or territory so far to offer an amnesty to GPs from this unfair tax. AMA Queensland won this amnesty through our dogged campaigning and persistent approaches to the state government, and the bravery of our members who spoke out publicly about how this tax would hurt their patients and their practices.
We urge all practices to seek appropriate legal, accounting and other professional advice on the amnesty and individual business implications as soon as possible.
Expressions of interest for the amnesty are due by 29 September 2023.
We continue to fight against this new interpretation of the existing law, which threatens to force practices to the wall and make primary care increasingly less accessible to the community.
Bulk billing
The federal government’s commissioned review of the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) cleared GPs of rorting and blamed wastage on billing errors due to the scheme’s complexity.
We have been calling for the MBS to simplified and clear ruling provided to doctors for many years. There are more than 6,000 individual items and new numbers were added and removed during COVID, making the system difficult to navigate.
A University of Sydney study also found doctors are more likely to underbill Medicare for fear of falling foul of the law.
At the same time, GPs cannot afford to bulk bill. The rebates have not kept pace with inflation for decades and go nowhere near the cost of providing quality healthcare while also managing small business costs.
We look forward to seeing action in the May 9 federal budget to address these fundamental problems.
We also encourage practices to apply for the new $25,000 to $50,000 grants offered under the Australian Government's Strengthening Medicare - General Practice Grants Program.
PHNs and NACCHO will be sending letters directly to general practices inviting their participation in coming weeks – keep your eyes out.
Pharmacy prescribing
The New South Wales urinary tract infection (UTI) pharmacy prescribing trial is on hold due to delays in securing ethics approval for the program.
The NSW trial was due to commence on 1 April but pharmacists have been advised not to dispense any UTI antibiotics until the researchers developing the protocols advise further.
We hope this means the University of Newcastle-led consortium is developing robust patient protections and reporting mechanisms that were absent in the QUT-managed Queensland pilot.
We know the Queensland pilot harmed women, but there were no mechanisms for doctors or patients to report adverse outcomes.
We have been advised that doctors and patients can make individual complaints about pharmacists to the Office of the Health Ombudsman (OHO) about episodes of harm.
While we may be uncomfortable with reporting individual pharmacists for what is a systemic failure, we encourage doctors and patients to take that action to protect our community from harms from future expansions of this dangerous experiment.
The national Australian Doctor publication is so concerned about the proposed North Queensland pharmacy pilot that it has launched a survey of all doctors. Go to ausdoc.com.au to have your say.
Maternity services
As it often happens in our membership organisation, the advocacy we provide to members of one region can have positive flow-on effects for members across the state.
We’ve been actively working with our Central Queensland members and the state government to restore maternity services in Gladstone since the unit was put on bypass in July last year, knowing many other regional services are also understaffed and hanging on by a thread.
In direct response to our sustained pressure both behind the scenes and in front of media, Queensland Health has developed short-term initiatives to alleviate obstetrics and gynaecology workforce shortages across Queensland, including:
- a Medical Maternity Working Group to focus on workforce shortages
- flexible employment models that will enable doctors with advanced obstetrics skills to work in public hospital maternity units, and
- award incentives, including locum equivalent rates, for Queensland Health employed and credentialed medical practitioners to support short- term rotational deployments to regional Queensland Health maternity services.
We are pleased to see Queensland Health is acting on our advice and encourage any members with O&G qualifications to register their interest in participating in these initiatives, including GP obstetricians.
We are calling for more action, for support for all rural and regional maternity units, and support for the doctors - obstetricians, anaesthetists, GP obstetricians and anaesthetists, rural generalists, GPs, paediatricians and resident doctors.
We also need statewide accreditation so doctors do not need to apply for accreditation in each HHS. Above all, we are calling for a sustainable approach to workforce planning.
Vaping
We welcome the Queensland Government’s renewed action on vaping and tobacco through its draft laws and parliamentary inquiry.
However, we remain concerned about the influence of powerful lobby groups on the legislative process.
One of the particularly important parts of the laws is preventing under-18s employed in retail from handling nicotine products. Just as handing over a pack of tobacco cigarettes to a customer makes smoking look normal, so does selling a vape or liquid nicotine product.
However, a late clause has been inserted in these laws to exempt under-18s working in pharmacies from this prohibition.
We have questioned why this clause was inserted.
AGM and Dinner for the Profession
Join us at our AGM on 26 May at Customs House Brisbane and stay on for our annual Dinner for the Profession. We have a Gatsby theme this year with a 20s-styled band and dancers.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath will speak ahead of the state budget. This is an opportunity to celebrate outstanding colleagues for their contribution to the profession, mingle with old friends and start new networks, and meet the AMA leadership team for the next year.
Registration for the AGM is free and tables are selling fast for the Dinner for the Profession.
Senior Doctors Conference
We are also pleased to be partnering with the Australian Senior Active Doctors Association (ASADA), led by AMA Queensland Board member Dr Geoff Hawson, to host the second Senior Doctors Conference in August at Waters Edge Brisbane.
Last year almost 100 senior active and retired doctors from across the nation travelled to Redcliffe for the inaugural Senior Doctors Conference, discussing topics ranging from CPD requirements to encore careers for those choosing to wind down practice.
We welcome suggestions for topics and speakers. Contact events@amaq.com.au. In the meantime, save Saturday 19 August in your calendar.