AMA VICDOC Spring 2023 - Magazine - Page 43
TH E N AT I O N A L M ED I CA L WO RK FO RC E ST RAT EGY
WE'RE FOCUSING ON CREATING A
NEW CAREER PATHWAY FOR CAREER
MEDICAL OFFICERS.
RESTORING GENERAL PRACTICE AS THE MAINSTAY
OF THE MEDICAL SYSTEM IS AN IMPORTANT PART
OF THE STRATEGY’S LONG GOAL.
A longstanding expectation is that
all medical students will start as
junior doctors, then train as registrars,
and finally fellow as specialists.
However, this progression no longer
fits the workforce needs of specialties
that provide 24/7 acute care, as more
doctors are needed in middle-grade
roles than as specialists. We also recognise
that there are a group of doctors who don't
particularly want to do specialist training.
Many have fallen into unaccredited
registrar positions, which aren't properly
industrially defined and are open to
exploitation. So, there’s a clear need
to create a proper career pathway for
doctors like these so that they can
provide valuable service needs and
still have a rewarding career.
General practice must reassert its role as
the primary patient's medical home, where
the coordination of care, prevention and
chronic disease management takes place,
with specialists used as appropriate
to provide additional expertise and
interventions.
We need to make it more attractive and
expose young doctors and even medical
students to high quality general practice in
their undergraduate or early clinical career
so that they can realise how rewarding it
is. The Primary Health Care 10 Year Plan
outlines a range of strategies to enhance
General Practice. There were some
important first steps taken in this year’s
May Budget but there is lots more to
be done.
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I THINK WE ARE IN QUITE AN EXCITING TIME IN
DIGITAL HEALTH; THE AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL HEALTH
AGENCY, WHICH OWNS MY HEALTH RECORD,
IS ONE TO WATCH OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS.
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My Health Record is not a very
sophisticated tool; it’s largely a document
repository. It must be modernised and
there was money in the May budget to
start that process this year. It has to become
integrated, and real time. The Digital
Health Agency has recently launched
an app [my health], and Government
has flagged that it wants to make it a
requirement for pathology and imaging
providers to upload diagnostic tests into
My Health Record. We’ve got to make it
easier for doctors, GPs and others to use it,
so that it links to and integrates with
their clinical information systems.
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Read more about the
National Medical
Workforce Strategy or
access the full Strategy
VI CD O C SPRI N G 202 3
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