·ÛºìÅ®ÀÉ’s Voice in Australia’s Workforce Reform
·ÛºìÅ®ÀÉ
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
Earlier in August, I represented ·ÛºìÅ®ÀÉ at the inaugural meeting of the Medical Workforce Advisory Collaboration (MWAC) in Canberra. ·ÛºìÅ®ÀÉ is one of only three non-GP specialist colleges elected to join this Collaboration for the next three years. Both Dr Martina Mende and I – as ·ÛºìÅ®ÀÉ’s Chair and Deputy Chair of the College’s Workforce Working Group – look forward to advocating on behalf of College member’s views and interests during this time. Other members of the MWAC include key stakeholders involved in the training, management, and employment of the medical workforce, such as federal and state governments, universities, the Medical Board, private hospitals, the Australian Medical Association, the Australian Medical Students Association, and other medical colleges.
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The meeting was opened by Minister Butler, the Federal Health and Aged Care Minister, who outlined MWAC’s objective: to align medical workforce planning with community needs. This includes a comprehensive review of the entire medical workforce pipeline, from training and recruitment to distribution and retention.
MWAC’s action plan focuses on several key areas:
Enhancing data collection, sharing, and governance related to current and future workforce needs and training.
Improving supervision models for junior doctors and international medical graduates.
Reviewing the selection process for training and the roles of junior and career medical officers.
Increasing the role of generalists and the GP workforce.
Revising selection processes to boost trainee numbers from rural areas.
Expanding the First Nations medical workforce and fostering culturally safe environments while addressing racism and discrimination.
Evaluating the distribution of the medical workforce and exploring incentives for working in underserved areas.
We aim to use this Collaboration to assist in our shared goals with the government and ensuring that decisions and policies developed are within the best interest of our trainees and members, and the women and their families for whom we care. This includes training within both the public and private setting, the role and value of both Associate and Fellow Members and that patients can access all models of care, both public and private, irrespective of where they live and reside.Ìý
·ÛºìÅ®ÀÉ is proud to have already identified and started addressing many of these issues including:
Supporting Associate Procedural members and training pathways, who provide the backbone of rural obstetrics.
Supporting the ongoing ·ÛºìÅ®ÀÉ Workforce Working Group and Private Practice Committee, ensuring the private sector’s role in training and patient’s access to private care in all areas.
Streamlining the SIMG review and selection process.
Developing and implementing ·ÛºìÅ®ÀÉ’s Rural Strategy.
Collaborating with Murdoch University on the Mapping Project and Yarning Circles to assess the distribution and access of obstetrics and gynaecology services for rural and First Nations women and their families.
Continuing our significant review of the F·ÛºìÅ®ÀÉ training section process.
Creating the F·ÛºìÅ®ÀÉ Rural O&G Specialists (FROGS) advanced training program to support training of rural obstetricians and gynaecologists.
Supporting the PVOGs program and O&G curriculum development with universities.
Reviewing College policies and supervision models for all trainees and SIMGs.
Further MWAC meetings are scheduled for November, with several subcommittees set to work on the action plans. We are also looking forward to the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care’s detailed 20-year workforce modelling for obstetrics and gynaecology, to be released in September, which will guide future policy development.
Yours sincerely,
Associate Professor Jared Watts
·ÛºìÅ®ÀÉ Board Director
Feedback
For any feedback or suggestions to be taken to the Collaboration, please contact us through workforce@ranzcog.edu.au.