President's update: scope of practice; medicinal cannabis, Ahpra news and more
Hi everyone and happy Friday.
It’s been another very busy week at federal AMA.
After the success of our Public Hospital Report Card launch last week, it was incredibly disappointing to see the announcement last Friday from the federal government on funding for a pharmacy prescribing trial.
This decision is a baffling one, given the government's own medicines regulator, the Therapeutics Goods Administration, has made it clear there are risks attached to the contraceptive pill and that these risks require management by a medical practitioner.
As we said in our media statement this decision puts the healthcare of Australian women last and will further fracture healthcare, putting patients at risk.
We’ve seen these ad hoc decisions made by state governments across the country with very little evidence that speaks to the effectiveness of the programs. So, we are calling on the federal government to undertake a robust evaluation to ensure this program — and others like it — are safe, cost-effective and don’t fragment care.
We also need the right kind of reporting mechanisms for adverse events — not just from pharmacists but from specialists and GPs who treat patients who have had adverse events from treatment within pharmacies.
On Tuesday I met with Ahpra and the Medical Board of Australia to discuss a range of issues including Ahpra’s response to the Dawson Review, sexual misconduct records on a practitioner’s register, and expedited specialist pathways.
On expedited specialist pathways we reiterated our support for reducing regulatory barriers to international doctors but expressed our continuing concerns about the limited role of specialist colleges in this arrangement.
Scope of practice was also discussed, and we reiterated our calls for a stronger evidence base for expanding scope.
We continue to push for an objective and meaningful discussion around reform in the Australian context, clinical governance, collaboration, and best practice in prescribing models before any further work relating to non-medical prescribing should progress.
I also met with the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing about the Thriving Kids initiative. It’s still early days but it remains very unclear how this program will work in practice. I will continue to press the importance of a consistent approach across states and territories, and to make sure any MBS reforms are workable for doctors and our patients.
Yesterday I attended the Illicit Tobacco and E-cigarette National Symposium. The AMA was instrumental in pushing strengthened regulation to get vapes out of the hands of kids in the last term of government. But we continue to see illicit tobacco harming our patients. The national cooperation across health, border agencies and law enforcement agencies is critical to protecting the health of Australians.
Today and tomorrow our Federal Council is meeting to discuss the big issues in
health — aged care, specialist fees and scope of practice are just a few items on our busy agenda. I look forward to updating you next week, along with all the gossip from our annual Colleges, Associations and Societies meeting — I look forward to catching up with all the specialty groups about the burning issues in health affecting us all.
Have a great weekend.
