President’s update: Adelaide we are here for AMA25

Hello and happy Friday, and let me add happy AMA25!

It is super exciting to be here in Adelaide as our national conference kicks off today. Adelaide is such a beautiful city, and it is lovely to be here with colleagues from around the country. AMA25 has a fantastic program filled with thoughtful speakers on a range of topics, and one of the best parts (for me personally) is the opportunity to celebrate the many award winners announced over the conference. I will obviously have MUCH more to say on this next week, and we will be updating you all on our amazing award recipients over the next few weeks.

Many of you (well, those of you who are GPs) attended Monday’s webinar on ‘Making Sense of the New GP Chronic Condition Management Plan (GPCCMP)’ as we settle into the new chronic disease management changes. It was great to hear from the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing as well as Cubiko, to discuss how to make the changes to the CPCCMP work best for patients, and to optimise our practice workflows. There’s also a recording of the webinar available to watch if you missed it.

Our Federal Council had an in-person meeting here in Adelaide yesterday. In all honesty, I’m writing this ahead of time, so no word yet on the outcomes of discussions — but there are some exciting topics up for discussion including an update to our Immunisation position statement, and a strengthened Complementary and alternative treatments statement to improve consumer protection and regulatory oversight. We’ll also be talking about workforce pressures and how we can best support rewarding career pathways for all doctors. We’ll keep you updated in the weeks to come on all the discussions had and decisions made. Federal council is your representative group from a variety of specialties and with reps from around the country. If you’ve ever got a question, you can reach me, our Federal Council Chair Matt McConnell or your specialty or area representative via president@ama.com.au

Launching this week is the AMA’s new podcast The Waiting Room. I’m thrilled to be the guest on the first episode, but much more exciting is the return of two familiar players to the AMA — It makes me so happy to say Dr Omar Khorshid and Dr Chris Moy have teamed up again to co-host our podcast which will focus on key issues in Australian healthcare and unpacking the AMA’s advocacy and policy through conversations with experts from across the country.

You can listen to The Waiting Room on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or on your favourite podcast app.

And now, over to AMA25… Let’s go!