Australian Medical Association

The AMA considers there is a critical need for device registries to be established in Australia, as highlighted by the PIP breast implant incident. Such registries should be funded by government.

The AMA strongly believes that strong support for health and medical research is necessary to ensure that the best and most efficient health care is available to all Australians. Australia has been falling behind other countries in its funding and strategic long-term commitments to health and medical research. This submission to the McKeon Review outlines how Australia can regain its position as a world leader in health and medical innovation.

The AMA submission to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons highlights that: urgency categories should facilitate patients being prioritised for surgery fairly and equitably; category definitions should take account of all the factors relevant to a patient's requirement for surgery; the primary driver for surgeons to categorise elective surgery will always be clinical urgency; and elective surgery waiting time should be counted from the time the patient is referred by a general practitioner to a surgeon for assessment until the time surgery is performed.

The AMA has responded to the Medical Board of Australia's (MBA) consultation paper on the role of the Board in funding external doctors' health programs. In preparing its response, the AMA relied on its 2011 Position Statement on the Health and Wellbeing of Doctors and Medical Students as well a survey of doctors conducted by the AMA that attracted 2057 responses.

The AMA has provided a submission to the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) in response to their discussion paper Linked Dual-Trained Physician Care in Rural Communities. The AMA supports efforts to improve patient access to to medical care in regional and rural Australia and the RACP model has merit for further development. It needs more detail and refinement to ensure such a model is attractive for potential trainees, effective in delivering care and sustainable in the long term for rural communities.

The AMA has reviewed the Government’s Draft Ten Year Roadmap for National Mental Health Reform (the Roadmap) and is pleased to see that some of the directions set out in the plan incorporate elements of the AMA Position Statement on Mental Health 2011, in particular those Roadmap actions related to reducing stigma and discrimination, increasing access to early intervention and support and improving accessibility of mental health and support services. The AMA has nevertheless critiqued the Government on funding cuts to the Better Access Program (as this action does not match the policy intent outlined in the Roadmap to improve provision of mental health and support services to those who need them) and for failing to adequately recognise the vital and increasing role that GPs play in caring for patients with a mental health issue and their families. The AMA comments also highlighted the importance of specifically targeted programs for special needs groups, and the need to develop measures to address systemic barriers to mental health services.

The AMA's submission to the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority on a pricing framework for public hospital services calls for hospital services to be funded on the basis of an 'effective' rather than an 'efficient' price. An effective price is one that provides sustainable and equitable access to high quality hospital services. The submission details the AMA's support for appropriate funding of post-hospital care; investment in teaching, training and research; and small and medium sized hospitals.

The AMA submission to the National Prescribing Service (NPS) Prescribing Competencies Project highlights the need for greater emphasis on:

• adequate level of training to meet competency requirements to prescribe; 
• practitioners prescribing within their scope of practice;
• being competent in using knowledge and making judgments on when not to prescribe;
• referring a person to another health professional when that person’s clinical condition is outside scope of practice; 
• referring a person to a medical practitioner if they fail to improve within a specified period of time;
• keeping prescribing and dispensing separate; and   
• effectively communicating in English.

Federal Budget Submission 2012-13: Priorities in preventive health

Federal Budget Submission 2012-13: Aged care

Federal Budget Submission 2012-13: Climate change and health

Federal Budget Submission 2012-13: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health

Federal Budget Submission 2012-13: GP infrastructure

The AMA Budget Submission identifies areas where additional investment in health care and health infrastructure is needed and should be considered in the forthcoming Federal Budget.

The AMA does not suggest that the answer to every question is to spend more. We have identified areas where the Government can spend more effectively.

Federal Budget Submission 2012-13: Health financing

Federal Budget Submission 2012-13: Tackling chronic disease management

Federal Budget Submission 2012-13: Medical workforce and training

Federal Budget Submission 2012-13: Health and medical research

Federal Budget Submission 2012-13: e-health

Federal Budget Submission 2012-13: Mental health

The AMA has made a submission to the Medical Board of Australia's second round consultation on the proposed registration standard for granting registration as a medical practitioner on completion of intern training. In it we have again emphasised that a term in emergency medical care should ideally be completed in an emergency department and recommended that there must be a mechanism for an intern to apply to the MBA to have exceptional circumstances considered on a case-by-case basis. Read the full submission here.

The AMA submission to government on Regionally Tailored Primary Health Care Initiatives through Medicare Locals Fund comments on the role of Medicare Locals, the creation of the Medicare Locals National Body and the utilisation of funds set aside for Medicare Locals.  The AMA highlights the need for Medicare Locals to support GPs in caring for patients, for clarity and transparency in how funds are allocated, and stresses that any savings from the consolidation of funding arrangements must be directed towards supporting services for patients. 

The AMA wrote to the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia on 15 November 2011 opposing the continued dispensing proposal under the Fifth Community Pharmacy Agreement. Continued dispensing will represent a significant change in the professional role of pharmacists and their role within the health care team. The draft guidelines circulated by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia heighten the AMA's concerns that continued dispensing will undermine the collaboration between pharmacists and medical practitioners.

The AMA has identified the medical workforce shortage as a major health issue with the overall distribution of doctors being skewed heavily towards major cities such that regional, rural and remote areas shoulder a disproportionate workforce shortage burden. There is a strong preference amongst much of the current medical workforce to live and work in major cities. So much so that attracting young professionals to rural locations is extremely difficult. The AMA believes the factors affecting the supply of medical workforce in rural areas should be viewed in the context of generalism; remuneration and incentives; hospital infrastructure; compensation and family support; costs of establishing a practice and access to community; high on-call demands and the need for rosters and locum services;and recruitment of international medical graduates (IMG) doctors.The submission makes a series of recommendations addressing these issues as well as the effect of the introduction of Medicare Locals, anomalies with the ASGC scheme and the need to extend MBS telehealth items.

Did you know that the RACGP Vocational Training Standards are changing? The new draft standards involve significant change and a move to an outcomes based approach. Supervisors and doctors-in-training have expressed concern about some elements of the draft standards. Find out what the changes to the Vocational Training Standards could mean for you by reading our submission.