President’s update: a reminder — your health matters!

Hello, and happy Friday.

Well this year I feel like we needed RUOK day more than ever — with escalating tensions in many corners of the globe, it's an important reminder to check in with ourselves, and each other. My thoughts are with our Nepali colleagues this week — I was so looking forward to visiting Nepal next week for the annual meeting of the Confederation of Medical Associations in Asia and Oceania (CMAAO). But with the local unrest unfortunately the meeting has been postponed. Of course, there are many other members of ours facing challenges both here and abroad. I remind you all that we are a small community in medicine, and we really need to look out for each other and treat each other with kindness and respect.

We’re also working hard at the AMA with regulators and decision makers to ensure the system does a better job of looking after our wellbeing too. If you are struggling, please remember the 24/7 free and confidential Drs4Drs service is out there to connect you with a local doctor’s health service or counselling, as well as Lifeline, Beyond Blue, and of course your own GP is always there to talk. Keeping everything bottled-up inside is a coping mechanism which only works for so long… please reach out if you are struggling, or just feeling like things aren’t right, before the bottle blows.

This week has again been a big week of meetings for me in Canberra, starting with the AMA meeting with Monash University’s Advancing Women in Healthcare Leadership (AWHL) team. We’ve partnered with them for several years now to develop and implement both internal and external priorities to advance gender equity in medicine. I’m pleased to say our inaugural partnered training course has reached capacity, and we look forward to offering more opportunities in future.

We met with the Director of Policy for Facebook in Australia and New Zealand to ensure our online environments are as safe as possible from a health perspective, and to protect the reputations of our healthcare professionals. As more Australians get health advice from online sources, it’s really important that social media companies understand the real harm that health misinformation can cause and that they have processes in place to quickly identify and counter health-related scams.

I caught up with the First Assistant Secretary from the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Mark Roddam, to talk about a number of issues regarding primary care reform and to advocate for GP-led multidisciplinary teams and MBS reform to support longer consultations for patient care of complex and chronic conditions. I reminded the department that GPs are key to early intervention for children and families, and that the ‘Thriving Kids’ program must recognise this role. The AMA will continue to bring your feedback into the design and implementation of the program to ensure high quality care.

GP reform continued on Wednesday as the Primary Care and Workforce Reviews Expert Panel continues to work through the many recent GP reviews and how to bring it all together and design meaningful changes that meet the needs of Australians and primary care teams. We continue to push strongly on the need for medical leadership and the central role of general practice in primary care.

I also met with CEO of the Police Federation Australia on Wednesday to discuss numerous mutual areas of public health concern and ways to work together to positively impact the community — everything from domestic violence to illicit tobacco, driving and medicinal marijuana to mental health crisis teams. There are many areas where health and police work hand-in-hand, and we need to continue that vital work. I’m pleased to say their CEO was also very enthusiastic on the subject of e-scooters and the widespread injuries we are seeing across the country and we look forward to further discussions.

I also met with the Commissioner of Illicit Tobacco and E-cigarettes along with our colleagues at ACOSH and Cancer Council Victoria. We had a candid discussion about the Commissioner’s role, the need for systems reform, collaboration from multiple sectors and strengthened responses right across the country.

I’m happy to report I’m back home for a brief moment and well-needed day in clinic seeing my patients. Tomorrow our AMA Federal Council meets and now that I won’t be in Nepal I’ll find some other work to update you on next week… watch this space!

Until then stay well, keep your patients well, and look after those around you.