Australian Medical Association

Call for nominations

The four Executive Officers of the Australian Medical Association Limited for 2010/2011 will be elected at the 2010 National Conference of the AMA to be held on 28-29 May 2010 in Sydney.

The positions to be filled are President, Vice President, Chairman of Council and Treasurer.

Be delivered by 1.00pm (AEST) Friday 14 May 2010.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, discusses the Federal Government's medical training announcement on ABC 2 News Breakfast with Joe O'Brien and Virginia Trioli

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that the AMA welcomes the Government’s significant investment in medical training with the announcement of big increases in the number of medical training places across the board.

The Government has announced there will be 1200 general practice training places by 2014, 975 Pre-vocational General Practice Placements Program (PGPPP) places by 2013, and 900 specialist training positions in private, community and rural settings by 2014.

Dr Pesce said the Government has recognised the important role of general practice with a sharp increase in GP training positions and more than doubling the number of PGPPP places.

MJA Media Release - Government called to action on obesity and climate change

Australian politicians must act quickly to combat the rise of obesity and its life-threatening disease consequences, and the great threats to health from global climate change, according to a letter published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

The letter has been endorsed by 300 medical and health practitioners, including 40 professors of medicine and health sciences.

Prof Garry Egger, Adjunct Professor of Health Sciences at Southern Cross University, NSW, and his co-authors write that big health gains have been made since the onset of industrialisation.

MJA Media Release - Driver Licensing Authorities should take responsibility for deciding medical fitness to drive

Australian driver licensing authorities must take responsibility for determining whether a person’s medical condition makes them unfit to drive. This can be difficult, especially for conditions like epilepsy, where the impairment is intermittent and unpredictable. An expert review mechanism is needed to deal with uncertain or exceptional cases, according to an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Driver licensing authorities in Australia have shifted most of the responsibility for determining fitness to drive to the treating doctor, write A/Prof Ernest Somerville, Director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Service at Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, and his co-authors.

This creates a conflict of interest and may lead to unsafe decisions, damage to the doctor-patient relationship, interference with medical management and legal vulnerability for the doctor.

 

MJA Media Release - More vigorous research needed into effects of compensation on injury outcomes

A longitudinal study has disproved previous research showing access to motor vehicle accident compensation affects recovery outcomes after injury.

Conducted by Dr Meaghan O’Donnell, from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne, and her co-authors, the study included 391 randomly selected patients with moderate-to-severe injuries.

The study is published in the latest Medical Journal of Australia.

MJA Media Release - More adequate provision of eye care services need to 'close the gap' in vision loss in indigenous people

Blindness rates in Indigenous Australians are still much higher than in non-Indigenous Australians, despite a probable fall in overall rates of blindness in Indigenous people in the past 30 years, according to research published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Most blindness was due to readily preventable or treatable causes of vision loss, including cataract, diabetes, refractive error and trachoma.

Prof Hugh Taylor, Harold Mitchell Chair of Indigenous Eye Health at the University of Melbourne, Prof Jill Keeffe, Program Manager of Vision Care Delivery at the Vision Cooperative Research Centre in Sydney, and their co-authors studied a random cluster sample of Indigenous people of all ages from 30 communities across Australia, and compared these with a sample of non-Indigenous adults aged 40 years and older from several remote sites.

In this issue of GP Network News Issue 10 Number 8 - 12 March 2010: PM addresses AMA Parliamentary Dinner; AMA participates in 12th Annual Health Conference; Primary care debrief for pandemic H1N1 2009

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, addresses the AMA Parliamentary Dinner, Great Hall, Parliament House, Wednesday, 10 March 2010

GP Network News Issue 10, Number 7 - 5 March 2010, AMA responds to major health reform announcement, National clinical practice guidelines portal.

On 3 March 2010, the Commonwealth Government announced its National Health and Hospitals Network policy – the first phase of its health reform package. The first phase focuses on arrangements for the funding and governance for public hospitals and primary care.

The Prime Minister also foreshadowed in his speech further initiatives in the future concerning:

• the inadequacy of hospital bed numbers, including specific problems in emergency departments, elective surgery and sub-acute care;
• the expansion of primary care;
• the undersupply of doctors, nurses and other health professionals;
• the inadequacy of electronic health records across the system; and
• preventative health care, aged care, mental health and dental health services.

 

AMA President Dr Andrew Pesce discusses the Government's health reform plans at a Press Conference in Canberra.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that the public hospitals policy unveiled by the Prime Minister is major reform that must be taken seriously and given due consideration by the States and the health sector because we need a system that will give better access to quality health services for the Australian population into the future.

Dr Pesce said the policy is a credible response to the problems and deficiencies in the public hospital system and is evidence that there has been considerable consultation with patients and with doctors.

“The AMA supports the Prime Minister’s preparedness to take responsibility for health through a more dominant role for the Commonwealth in funding our public hospitals,” Dr Pesce said.

“Upon first examination, the new National Health and Hospitals Network is responding to the needs of patients.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, is in Canberra today and will be available for comment on the Government’s health reform plans outside the National Press Club following the Prime Minister’s address.

Dr Pesce will be in Canberra for the rest of the day and will be available for further media interviews upon request.

Dr Pesce Doorstop:

Time:        After Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s National Press Club Address
Date:       Wednesday 3 March 2009
Venue:     Outside the National Press Club

Dr Pesce discusses the Government's health funding reform plan with Fran Kelly on Radio National Breakfast.

MJA Media Release - HIGH-RISK CARDIOVASCULAR PATIENTS UNDERTREATED IN GENERAL PRACTICE

Patients who are at high risk of a cardiovascular event are substantially undertreated, according to the authors of a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Dr Emma Heeley, Senior Research Fellow at the George Institute for International Health, and her co-authors conducted a nationally representative, cross-sectional survey of 322 GPs, who were asked to collect data on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and their management in 15-20 consecutive patients aged 55 years and over.

MJA Media Release - THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY TO REDUCE BURDEN OF DIABETIC KIDNEY DISEASE

Countries must act locally to reduce the global health burden caused by diabetic kidney disease, according to an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Prof Robert Atkins, Head of Kidney Disease Prevention at Monash University, Melbourne, and Prof Paul Zimmet, Director Emeritus and Director of International Research at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, write that World Kidney Day on 11 March is a time to intensify action on diabetic kidney disease.

MJA Media Release - ENDEMIC TRACHOMA STILL A MAJOR PROBLEM IN INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES

Blinding endemic trachoma remains a major public health problem in many Indigenous communities, despite the knowledge that has been gathered about its control since the 1930s, according to the authors of a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Prof Hugh Taylor, Harold Mitchell Chair of Indigenous Eye Health at the University of Melbourne, and his co-authors conducted a national, random cluster sample survey of eye health in Indigenous children (5-15 years) and adults (40 years and older) in 30 communities across Australia.

MJA Media Release - OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY COSTS AUSTRALIA OVER $21 BILLION PER YEAR

In 2005, overweight and obese Australian adults cost the Australian economy $21 billion in direct health care and direct non-health care costs, plus an additional $35.6 billion in government subsidies, according to a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Prof Stephen Colagiuri, Professor of Metabolic Health at the Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition and Exercise, University of Sydney, and his co-authors analysed data from the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle study, collected in 1999-2000 and 2004-2005.

 

 

GP Network News Issue 10, Number 6 - 26 February 2010, Medical board responds to AMA call for recognition of VR GPs as ‘specialist GPs’, General practice pharmacies – a positive health reform for patients, AMACGP meets in Canberra, Nominations for election to AMA Federal Council now open.

The AMA welcomes the decision by the Medical Board of Australia to include vocationally registered GPs on the Specialist Register of the new national registration scheme that takes effect from 1 July 2010.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said the AMA last week wrote to the Board recommending that vocationally registered GPs be given Specialist General Practitioner status.

“The Board has made the right decision,” Dr Pesce said.

“It would have been inequitable not to recognise the skills and experience of vocationally registered GPs, and it could have created two classes of GP.

Did you know that 60% of families with dependent children do not have enough insurance to cover the household expenses for a year if the family bread winner were to die?* What would be the financial impact on loved ones?

ING Australia is one organisation that has met the Australian Medical Association's thorough guidelines and has been a partner for many years now. Should you decide to put a few minutes aside to asses your current insurance arrangements, you may want to consider ING Australia’s range of quality direct insurance products offered to AMA members.

 

Between 5 January 2010 and 31 March 2010, we’ll give you a Free Day when you rent a vehicle over the weekend for 3 consecutive days or more.  Rental must be collected and returned between Thursday noon and the following Monday midnight and include a Saturday night keep.

The AMA is calling on the Federal Government to legislate to allow doctors to own and operate pharmacies.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that co-locating pharmacies within, adjacent to, or in close proximity to a general practice – under the ownership of the doctor – would provide significant benefits and convenience to patients.

“Incorporating pharmacy services into general practice would improve patient care by allowing GPs to lead a team of co-located health professionals, including pharmacists and general practice nurses, in providing multidisciplinary health care to patients at the local community level.

The AMA is urging the recently established Medical Board of Australia to ensure that the new national registration arrangements for doctors do not discriminate against 11,000 vocationally registered general practitioners.

The Board is currently finalising the criteria that will determine which GPs will be included on its specialist register.

The AMA has welcomed the decision by the Board to formally recognise GPs as specialists.  However, there is concern about reports in the medical press of a recommendation that only Fellows of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and some Fellows of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) will be recognised as ‘specialist general practitioners’.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that such a decision would leave thousands of highly qualified GPs shunned and professionally out in the cold.

GP Network News Issue 10, Number 5 - 19 February 2010, GP specialist register should include VR GPs: AMA, Coalition announces policy on hospital boards, H1N1 vaccination program information for GPs, AMACGP meets this weekend, AMA on Twitter.

The Medical Board of Australia, as part of incoming national registration arrangements, will be establishing a register of specialists. This register will include GPs.

The AMA has made a submission to the Medical Board of Australia recommending that when it formulates the criteria for inclusion on the new specialist register, it should put in place transitional arrangements to ensure that vocationally registered GPs are included on the register when it is first established. This would be in addition to Fellows of the relevant College.

The AMA is seeking members’ comments to inform and shape the direction of AMA submissions to the Government on the reviews of funding arrangements for diagnostic imaging and pathology services.

Tune into this great offer from Hertz. Take $25 off any rental of 5 days or more*. In addition, you’ll receive your AMA discounted rate and fee waived membership to Hertz #1 Club Gold express service program as well.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that the AMA welcomes the Government's decision to accept the major recommendations arising from the Review of the Medical Training Review Panel (MTRP).

Dr Pesce said the medical profession is pleased that the MTRP will have an ongoing expanded role in medical education and training, and that it will work closely with Health Workforce Australia.

“This is great news for medical students and doctors in training,” Dr Pesce said.

The MTRP is the only body that brings together all relevant stakeholders in medical education - including the AMA, medical schools, prevocational medical education councils, medical colleges and health departments.  The MTRP was established in 1997 to monitor and report on the number of medical specialist training places in Australia.