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The following articles have the tag Workforce
HEALTH Minister Tanya Plibersek has been listed as the respondent in a Federal Court case in which a GP super clinic owner will challenge rules he says unfairly prevent him from hiring international medical graduates (IMGs).
The Healthy Kids Check aims to detect medical issues early. But critics argue it’s a symptom of family medicine’s decline.
Is Australia any closer to establishing a centre for communicable disease control to respond to bird flu and other outbreaks?
THE nation is this week digesting the details of the federal budget. See MO online for our coverage of the fallout.
I APPLIED for a job in an ACCHO this year — an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation. I’m in my final year of GP training, and I’d been mulling over this decision for some time.
A GP working in a remote Northern Territory community has slammed the government’s proposed cap on tax deductible CPD, saying it would leave many communities struggling to recruit and maintain a medical workforce.
DRUG addicts “are not welcome in general practice” and more accessible specialist support would greatly facilitate GPs to prescribe opioid substitution therapy (OST), new Australian data shows.
WORKFORCE underpins all that we do in healthcare — who we use to deliver services, train our current and future healthcare professionals, drive research and innovation, and importantly make it all happen in a coordinated fashion.
DRUG addicts “are not welcome in general practice” and more accessible specialist support would greatly facilitate GPs to prescribe opioid substitution therapy (OST), new Australian data shows.
RURAL doctors have called on all political parties to use this year’s federal election to properly address health workforce issues.
THE Federal Court is set to hear the case of a GP super clinic owner suing the federal government over its refusal to allow him to hire international medical graduates (IMGs).
THE potential involvement of mining companies in supporting the local health workforce has been welcomed as a positive development, but it will not solve the worsening GP workforce crisis facing WA’s Kalgoorlie-Boulder region and surrounding areas, an expert says.
RURAL doctors have urged policy makers to work harder to solve ongoing health workforce issues in regional Australia following the release of the latest report outlining the extent of the problem.
NUMBERS and types of doctors in certain locations are failing to match the health needs of their communities and training pathways need to be fixed to improve this, Health Workforce Australia (HWA) has claimed.
AUSTRALIA’S GP shortage is a “story” maintained by “vested interests”, and service oversupply will continue as numbers of locally trained GPs and international medical graduates (IMGs) continue to rise, a new report claims.
THE AMA has called for a “whole of pipeline review” into health workforce numbers after a new report showed GP numbers were growing far slower than the rest of the medical profession.
MORE nurses are being employed in general practice but the workforce is ageing rapidly, with younger nurses shunning the profession, a national survey shows.
THE ongoing refusal by states and territories to help fund medical intern places threatens to send significant numbers of future doctors to the scrap heap, the Australian Medical Association (AMA) says.
TOP End registrar Dr Emma Griffiths has a word of advice for her young colleagues contemplating a stint in Africa and other exotic locations abroad – let’s fix our own problems first.
THREE decades of GP registrar supervising and teaching by rural NSW GP Dr Maxine Percival have resulted in the latest national acknowledgment of her hard work and dedication – this time in the form of a nomination in the GPET GP supervisor of the year award.
CITY-based GPs would demand a salary increase of up to $200,000 to work in some of Australia’s most remote rural practices, according to a University of Melbourne report.
THE proportion of GPs in Australia’s healthcare system fell significantly during the decade to 2009, as general practice lost ground to the other specialties, according to a new report from Health Workforce Australia.
THE controversial moratorium forcing IMGs to work outside metropolitan areas for 10 years looks set to stay, after Health Minister Nicola Roxon said she had no plans to change it.
A SHORTAGE of training places and uncertainty regarding achievement of residency may force international medical students (IMGs) to head back overseas, a leading Australian academic has warned.
The controversial rule to keep MBS rebates from international medical graduates (IMGs) until they work outside metropolitan areas for 10 years looks set to stay, after Health Minister Nicola Roxon said she had no plans to change it.
THE federal government has reversed its decision to cancel the $5 million super clinic project in Darwin’s northern suburbs following a meeting between Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon and NT Health Minister Kon Vatskalis in Melbourne earlier this week.
AUSTRALIA will lose more GPs, nurses and pharmacists to retirement than it trains between 2017 and 2026 unless major changes are made, according to a study of retirement trends in Australia’s skilled workforce.
A SIGNIFICANT rise in overall medical practitioner workforce numbers has failed to translate into a win for general practice, with the bulk of the increase being reflected in higher numbers of specialists and specialists in training, according to a new report. The Medical Labour Force 2009 report, released last week by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, revealed that despite an increase of almost 25% in overall primary-care practitioner numbers between 1999 and 2009, the rate of full-time equivalent (FTE) practitioners remained marginally lower than 1999 levels. According to the report, primary-care practitioner numbers had risen ...
A RECORD number of GP registrars have entered the General Practice Education & Training (GPET) program this year, with all 900 places successfully filled. The announcement by Health Minister Nicola Roxon, made last week at the GPRA conference in Canberra, follows the promised increase in GP training place numbers – up from last year’s intake of 700. General practice appears to have been a popular career choice for medical graduates, with GPET receiving 1235 eligible applications, leaving over 300 applicants without a GP training place. Ms Roxon told delegates the increases to training place numbers over ...
A RECORD number of GP registrars have entered training programs this year with all 900 places having been successfully filled. The announcement by Health Minister Nicola Roxon, made today at the General Practice Registrars Australia conference being held in Canberra, follows the government's latest increase in GP training place numbers - up from last year's capped intake of 700. Ms Roxon told conference delegates the Government's increases to training place numbers over the past four years had put 475 extra GPs in training. By lifting the total number of training places to 1200 by 2014, the Government ...
A PRODUCTIVITY Commission's report on aged care has recommended an overhaul of the system, including means testing of aged care residents and the removal of caps on care packages and residential bed numbers. The draft report, Caring for Older Australians , identifies a number of weaknesses in the aged care system including difficulties navigating the system, gaps in service coverage, inequitable service charges and workforce pressures. According to the report, pressures on the aged care workforce could also be alleviated through wage increases for nurses and other care staff delivering aged care services. Other workforce ...
NEW data revealing the continuing rise in GP management of chronic disease has sparked fresh calls for better remuneration of complex care. The latest General Practice Activity in Australia 2008-09 (BEACH) report has shown that chronic conditions management constitutes over a third of GPs’ workload with more cases being diagnosed and treated, despite fewer hours being worked. The report published this week by the AIHW based on almost 100,000 consultations carried out by almost 1000 GPs, has also shown the number of GPs working more than 40 hours per week has plummeted from 43% in ...
FEDERAL bureaucracy has hampered ACT Government and health authority efforts to ease the territory’s workforce crisis, the ACT Division of General Practice (ACTDGP) has claimed. ACTDGP chair Dr Rashmi Sharma has called on the Federal Government to declare the entire ACT as a district of workforce shortage (DWS), to ease the red tape burden on general practices attempting to lure IMGs to their area. The calls come after more than 12 months of ACT Government efforts to reverse the territory’s GP workforce crisis. The crisis was the subject of an ACT GP Taskforce’s final report, which was ...
MORE cash and more procedural work opportunities could entice nearly 400 additional GPs into Australia's health system each year, a new study has found. The survey of more than 532 junior doctors revealed that 16% more would choose general practice if there was more procedural work involved, such as obstetrics. A further 12% said they would pursue a career in general practice if their projected future earnings were $50,000 per year greater. However, the data indicated that many would be prepared to sacrifice increased earnings for the opportunity to do more procedural work. The data was ...
RURAL workforce experts have rejected claims from the AMA that a formal role for physician’s assistants (PAs) would drain much-needed training resources from medical students. The dispute has emerged following the release of a report on a 12-month PA pilot in rural Queensland, which found the health professionals integrated well with their clinical teams and were supported by doctors and nurses alike. The trial involved five American PAs being recruited to work under doctors’ supervision in general practice, primary care and hospital settings. Despite the reported success of the program, the AMA dismissed any suggestion of ...
RURAL doctors have welcomed the knife-edge result of last weekend’s election as an opportunity to finally achieve better supports to boost health services in the bush. With three rural and regional-based independent MPs set to decide the outcome of a likely hung federal Parliament, RDAA president Dr Nola Maxfield said the situation provided a unique opportunity “for rural Australia to have a real voice in how health is provided in rural Australia”. “We hope that Kennedy MP Bob Katter, New England MP Tony Windsor and Lyne MP Rob Oakeshott will step up to the plate on rural ...
RURAL GPs may face longer hours and have more trouble finding locums but they remain higher paid than their urban colleagues, according to research. Data from the first wave of Monash University’s longitudinal Medicine in Australia: Balancing Employment and Life (MABEL) study has indicated that GPs in outer regional, rural and remote Australia are 11.5% higher paid than GPs in major cities. The new data, based on data collected from almost 4000 GPs, also indicated that earnings are lower for GPs working in socio-economically more advantageous areas with a higher concentration in the number of GPs relative ...
GPs claim they have been left battered and frustrated by the controversial GP super clinics initiative, following Labor’s pre-election pledges to expand the program. NSW GP Dr Alex Joannou, from Coffs Harbour on the state’s north coast, has become the latest opponent of the scheme, following the announcement of a $7 million super clinic in his town despite the opening of his own ‘super clinic’ style practice set for October. His $2 million clinic will house nine GPs, along with three nurses, allied services, pathology collection and an after-hours service, but Dr Joannou said he feared a ...
GPs looking towards early retirement, and their colleagues who have already prematurely ended their careers, are an untapped resource for those attempting to solve Australia’s health workforce shortages, researchers say. Despite general practice recording an 82% workforce retention rate of doctors younger than 65 years, more needs to be done to coax early retirees back into surgeries, according to a study from the University of Adelaide. The study, published in the latest MJA , examined retention rates within various health professions and has identified those within the traditional working age bracket that were no longer practising. ...
GPs at two Victorian practices have hit back at tabloid accusations that they routinely charge patients $20 for being 10 minutes late to a doctor’s appointment. The practices, both located in the Melbourne CBD, criticised reports appearing in the Herald Sun last week that they slapped patients with late fees, arguing that they only charged patients who completely failed to turn up to confirmed appointments on regular occasions. The reports claimed the Collins Street Medical Centre “imposes a $20 charge on patients who are 10 minutes late for a standard 15-minute consultation; for longer consultations, the ...
GPs are pulling out their prescription pads less and less, according to the latest report card from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). Australia’s Health 2010, released last week by the AIHW, showed GP prescribing rates have dropped from 94 medications prescribed per 100 encounters in 1998/99 to 86 per 100 consultations in 2008/09. Conversely, the use of counselling in management of problems increased, from 31 per 100 encounters in 1998/99 to 34 per 100 encounters in 2008/09. A spokesperson for the National Prescribing Service was positive about the figures. “Quality use of ...
GPs are again being encouraged to participate in one of Australia’s largest ongoing longitudinal surveys examining the changing patterns of doctors’ working lives to better understand workforce issues. The third wave of the Medicine in Australia: Balancing Employment and Life (MABEL) survey, conducted by the University of Melbourne and Monash University, has now commenced, with researchers hoping to gain further insights into doctor shortages and the role of doctors in the health system. The study’s long-term analysis of changes in doctors’ personal and professional lives such as family circumstances and earnings will eventually be used to help ...
OPENING up incentive grants to all practices and providing infrastructure funding are key to ensuring practice nurses become integral to every practice in Australia, GP groups say. The AMA, RACGP, AGPN as well as the Australian Practice Nurses Association (APNA) have strenuously lobbied the Federal Government to open up the Practice Nurse Incentive Payment to all practices. Currently only rural and remote practices and those in areas of workforce shortage qualify for the payment, worth up to $40,000 a year. The GP groups also want infrastructure grants for additional practice space. The pressure on the ...
ACT health workforce recruiters will focus on UK doctors as part of a renewed push to fill ongoing gaps in the territory’s general practice workforce. The ACT Government, in collaboration with the ACT Division of General Practice, has launched a new campaign, believed to cost around $23,000, to find doctors for the territory’s 50 existing GP vacancies. Full-page ads will be taken out in the British Journal of General Practice promoting Canberra’s lifestyle, with applicants put in touch with local practices through the division. Division chair Dr Rashmi Sharma said that although the ACT included several designated ...
ONE in four GP practices operating without a practice nurse do so because they do not qualify for the associated practice incentive payment (PIP), an AGPN survey has revealed. The National Practice Nurse Workforce Survey found that, of the 2584 practices surveyed, 56.9% employed a practice nurse. Of those that didn’t, 24.4% attributed it to their ineligibility for the practice nurse PIP, while 17.3% cited lack of space. Only rural practices are eligible for the PIP, prompting AGPN chair Dr Emil Djakic to renew calls for the Government to extend the incentive to all practices. He also ...
GP groups are delighted with the Federal Government’s “milestone” $632 million cash injection into doctor training but supervisors have warned they won’t be able to cope with more registrars without a boost to training subsidies. Rural doctors have also cautiously welcomed the historic plan to deliver an extra 5500 GPs by 2020 but say it’s vital the new doctors head to the bush where they’re desperately needed (see story p4). Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Health Minister Nicola Roxon last week pledged to invest $339 million in extra GP places alone. General Practice Education and Training (GPET) ...
MORE than a third of rural doctors in Victoria are set to leave their posts within five years, according to a recent survey by AMA Victoria. The survey of 233 rural doctors found 37% planned to leave rural practice in five years, 29% planned to leave in 5-10 years, while 34% planned to remain for 10 years or more. AMA Victoria president Dr Harry Hemley said the prospect of losing more than a third of the state’s rural workforce in such a short time was very concerning. “We knew we would lose a substantial number of ...
A NEW medical centre set to open in GP-starved Canberra will be taking its cue from innovative UK models of care, according to its practice manager, David Bailey. The West Belconnen Health Cooperative will even be staffed by UK doctors, with four GPs poised to begin work at the practice within the next six months. The practice itself is owned and run by the local community cooperative, and is only the second practice in the country to be established in this way. Mr Bailey, director of practice consulting firm Professional Management Solutions, said, while the shortage ...
ENTICING junior doctors away from hospital posts and specialties and into general practice will not be possible without greater respect and adequate remuneration, experts argue. Latest workforce figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) show that from 2003 to 2007 there was just a 10% increase in overall GP numbers, compared to rises of 25.3% and 19.9% for hospital non-specialists and specialists respectively. RACGP president Dr Chris Mitchell said the figures demonstrated the need to review GP remuneration and policies that weakened the position of GPs. “We need 45% of Australian graduates to ...
NATIONALLY consistent accreditation pathways for international medical graduates (IMGs) entering Australia will prove a workforce boon by smoothing the way for doctors entering the country, say recruiters. Despite three routes to the RACGP Specialist Pathway expected to be available from July 2008, only one – for doctors with Australian equivalent qualifications (Category 1) – had been operational. The Australian Medical Council (AMC) last month approved pathways for partially comparable doctors (Categories 2 and 3) based on the doctor’s level of qualifications and experience. Stakeholders, who had previously warned the delay had damaged Australia’s reputation as an ...
A COHORT of hard-working and reliable staff is essential during a recession, says WA GP Dr Marcus Middleton, and practices should work to foster flexible working environments to keep them on board. One of three GP directors at Fremantle’s Ellen Street Family Practice, Dr Middleton says with 19 part-time staff, including 10 GPs, seven of whom are mothers, the practice needs to accommodate a diverse workforce. “We employ younger women with children, so we offer family-friendly and experienced support,” he says. A strong team prevents practices being “cornered” into relying on staff employed through agencies, an ...
THE number of stressed GPs turning to help and counselling support services has risen in a year plagued by natural disasters and the global financial crisis. According to RACGP president Dr Chris Mitchell, anecdotal evidence suggested the number of doctors accessing the college’s GP Support Program had increased noticeably in recent months. “It has been a bugger of a year – there are clearly the financial issues that have been impacting general practice, but also some major disasters, including floods and fires,” Dr Mitchell said. “Those issues make it very hard for us.” The service, ...
A COORDINATED grassroots campaign to lobby the ACT government for GP workforce solutions has resulted in a $20 million funding boost. And doctors say other state governments should take note. The ACT budget cash injection includes incentive payments worth $3.5 million for GPs who take on medical students. Practices will also have access to one-off payments from a $4 million GP Development Fund for initiatives that attract doctors to the territory. There will be $1.9 million for a business-hours GP locum service for aged care patients to take some pressure off local practices, and another $2.8 million ...
FEDERAL regulation of general practice location and size could be the first step in solving Australia’s GP workforce problems, according to a leading primary care academic. In a controversial submission to the National Primary Health Care Strategy, Associate Professor Graeme Miller, medical director of Sydney University’s Family Medicine Research Centre – which runs the BEACH program – has called for the introduction of limits on the number of MBS-supported practices in one geographic location. While GPs at existing practices would not lose their MBS rebates, GPs working at new practices would only have access to the MBS ...
GP groups will need to build a stronger case to back up their latest calls for a $530m government grants package, a leading health economist warns. In an open letter to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, GP umbrella group United General Practice Australia (UGPA) has called on the Government to award practices one-off grants of up to $30,000 for IT and office infrastructure, and up to $500,000 for the capital works. As well as stimulating the economy through job creation, UGPA argued the grants would also help prepare practices for the anticipated influx of medical students and GP ...
EFFORTS to address rural health workforce shortages will backfire and instead increase GP numbers in metropolitan areas unless workforce distribution is addressed, the peak rural workforce agency has warned. The caution from Rural Health Workforce Australia CEO Dr Kim Webber (PhD) followed an address by National Health Workforce Taskforce executive director Peter Carver at the recent Annual Health Congress in which he outlined the taskforce’s progress. The taskforce, established in 2007 by the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council, has the overarching aim of expanding the health workforce. Within this remit, it informs the government on workforce ...
NATIONAL cervical screening rates have reached their highest peak in a decade, backed by growing use of practice nurse MBS items. New data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has revealed that, in 2006-07, 61% of Australian women between the ages of 20 and 69 attended a cervical screening. Over the same period, claims on nurse Pap smear items 10994-9 increased from just over 1000 claims per month to more than 6000, with the upward trend continuing to a record of 8202 in February 2009. AGPN chair Dr Emil Djakic said the figures ...
A NEW $63 million national recruitment strategy to place international medical graduates is in danger of being undermined with private and state agencies likely to circumvent federal control of efforts to plug workforce gaps, experts warn. Their warning follows a recent Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreement to consolidate international recruitment programs run by individual states and territories into one single strategy covering all health professions. COAG documents suggest a national program, due to be in place by September, would reduce infrastructure costs, though little detail was available on how the new scheme would be run or ...
GPs may be forced from their communities and the viability of rural practices jeopardised if the government does not exercise caution in overhauling the Rural, Remote and Metropolitan Areas (RRMA) index, leading medical bodies warn. Under the controversial index, practices are assigned a RRMA classification based on the size of the local population and its distance from the nearest urban centre. Eligibility for various programs and grants related to infrastructure and workforce retention are tied to the RRMA classification system. A federal review of the system is drawing to completion, and the AMA and RDAA fear ...
WORKFORCE shortages are pushing GP registrars to their limits, with many buckling under the stress and considering quitting – a move that could threaten the future of the profession. Dire new research shows that 50% of registrars have contemplated leaving medicine altogether, and more than one in four have considered leaving general practice due to the high levels of stress during vocational training. In addition, 37% have thought about leaving their current workplace over concerns ranging from heavy workloads and difficult patients to the difficulties associated with rural terms. The findings are a blow to the ...