Australian Medical Association

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that Labor’s emergency department package is a welcome boost to the pressured and overworked emergency departments in our public hospitals.

Dr Pesce said the new investment will increase the medical and nursing resources in emergency departments and provide a modest number of additional training opportunities in this area of medical workforce shortage for the additional cohort of medical students who are graduating from medical schools over the next few years.

“Emergency departments are at the frontline of public hospital services,” Dr Pesce said.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that doctors would have a stronger voice in the management of public hospitals following the Government’s announcement of Lead Clinicians Groups in Local Hospital Networks.

Dr Pesce said the AMA had been seeking clarification of promised greater clinician input to public hospital decision-making since the Government announced its Local Hospital Networks policy.

“Doctors are best placed to know the needs of clinicians, other health professionals and patients in public hospitals,” Dr Pesce said.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that the only way to end the blame game in health was to have a single public funder for public hospitals.

Dr Pesce said the Prime Minister, the Premiers and the Chief Ministers should come out of next Monday’s COAG meeting with agreement on a single funder.

“The Commonwealth and the States must agree on a single funder that once and for all gets rid of the blame shifting and cost shifting mentality that bedevils our system,” Dr Pesce said.

“We need a single funder to directly fund our hospitals."

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Agreement 2010 outlines the agreement reached by all jurisdictions, except Western Australia, to establish a National Health and Hospitals Network (NHHN). The NHHN Agreement incorporates structural reforms as well as additional investments in hospital, primary and aged care services, and preventive care in mental health and diabetes health care.

Further initiatives announced in the Commonwealth Government’s Budget on 12 May 2010 include support for practice nurses, improved primary care infrastructure and the roll-out of electronic health records, bringing the total new health investment over the next five years to $7.3 billion.

Transcript:  AMA President,  Dr Andrew Pesce, with Leon Delaney, Radio 2SM

Monday       15 February 2010

Subjects:    Coalition plan for public hospital management boards

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that the Coalition’s policy announcement for local community-controlled management boards for major public hospitals in NSW and Queensland is a step in the right direction, but more detail on how the policy would roll out nationally is needed.

Dr Pesce said the AMA has for some time been calling for more clinical input to public hospital management at the local level.

“The Coalition’s proposal is heading in the right direction in terms of clinical engagement in decision making,” Dr Pesce said.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that the AMA welcomes reports that the Coalition will make health funding, including public hospital funding and governance, a key policy battleground at the next Federal election.

It is reported that the Coalition policy includes direct Commonwealth financing of new local hospital boards, leaving the States out of the process.

Dr Pesce said that having both major parties committed to dramatic health reform would benefit patients and communities desperate for better access to quality health services.

“There is not yet enough detail of the Coalition’s plan for the AMA to support or reject it, but there are elements that are consistent with our reform proposals,” Dr Pesce said.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, today said it was vital that Australia had strong, highly performing, public and private hospital systems, after the Productivity Commission released a draft discussion document comparing the two systems.

Dr Pesce said the Commission had highlighted the immense difficulty and statistical challenges of comparing the performance and costs of public and private hospitals.   

“Hospital systems are complex but we need both public and private hospitals working well to support our Australian health system,” Dr Pesce said.

“Unfortunately the AMA Public Hospital Report Card 2009, which was released yesterday, shows that public hospitals are under-funded and failing to meet key performance targets, and growing demand for their services.

AMA Position Statement: Clinical support time for public hospital doctors - 2009

The AMA defines clinical support time as protected time for duties that are not directly related to individual patient care. Clinical support duties encompass most aspects of the teaching, continuing professional development, clinical governance, administration and research activities undertaken by clinicians in the public health sector.

The purpose of this position statement is to specify a minimum benchmark of remunerated time for clinical support duties for senior and junior clinicians. It includes a comprehensive list of the roles and responsibilities that constitute clinical support time to assist with developing job descriptions and work schedules.

The AMA's response to Matter number AM 2008/13.

The AMA has made a submission in response to the draft national awards and also appeared before AIRC hearings in Sydney. The AMA has argued that the new awards may result in cost increases for some private medical practices as they prescribe, in some cases, more generous working conditions than those contained in existing awards. The AMA submission called on the AIRC to bring working conditions in the proposed awards back into line with current awards so that medical practices are not hit with increases in costs.