AMAV VICDOC Winter 2024 - Magazine - Page 35
WE’RE ALSO LOOKING TO REDUCE
OVERRELIANCE ON AND IMPROVE INTEGRATION
OF INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL GRADUATES (IMGS)
AND LOCUMS IN REGIONAL AND RURAL SETTINGS.
-
THE ROLE OF SPECIALIST COLLEGES IN
THE AUSTRALIAN HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IS
ANOTHER AREA WE THINK COULD BE FAIRER.
-
Currently, the colleges set a lot of the
Many regional and rural doctors are
standards for a trainee to aspire or
contractors and not employed under the
get past, but they're not an employer.
enterprise agreements. There’s no line of
They have a massive influence on the
sight about the cost of resourcing those
system and on workers – particularly
health services or the usual protections
doctors in training – but they sit
afforded an employee, like recourse to
outside the system and there’s very little
the Fair Work Commission. And then,
accountability. This was another area of
there is no real incentive, support or career
focus in our Ministerial Review where
progression for a doctor who works in rural
we asked for greater oversight, equity
Victoria compared to a doctor working in
and fairness of policies and procedures.
metro Melbourne, so those regional and
We have also recently employed a
rural hospitals find it difficult to attract
relationship manager at AMAV who
will focus on building connections
doctors with experience in the Australian
system, and rely on IMGs. The support for and relationships with the colleges,
IMGs is pretty poor; they’re left to sink or
so we can better advocate for
swim. We think that there is a lot more work our members in that space.
that needs to be done to support our IMGs
professionally and in the communities
they live in.
We highlighted the short-term nature of
employment for doctors in training, and the
ongoing issues that raises. We asked for better
incentives and conditions for doctors working
in rural and regional areas, for specialists’ pay to
be equalised, and for greater transparency about
pay from the 76 health services in Victoria.
-
VI CD O C WI NTER 2024
35
