AMAQ reveals major changes needed in Queensland health system

Queensland’s peak medical body has called for the biggest overhaul of doctor training and deployment in the state's history to solve the healthcare crisis.

Australian Medical Association president Dr Nick Yim

Reducing hospital demand, prioritising direct patient care and improving the medical training system are just some of the recommendations put forward by the Queensland peak medical body in its plan to boost the health sector across the state.

Released on Tuesday, the Australian Medical Association Queensland’s action plan details recommendations for how to navigate and improve the healthcare system, offering suggestions for deploying doctors efficiently, improving the general practice, private and public hospital space as well as improving medical training and education.

The medical blueprint was the result of six months of development by the peak body’s Workforce Working Group, with AMAQ president Nick Yim hoping to see its recommendations adopted by the state government and woven into its own needs-based workforce plan, set to be revealed in the coming months.

“This comprehensive plan sets out how to ensure training pathways, career opportunities and workplace culture bring doctors into the system and get them to where they’re needed most,” Dr Yim said.

“Governments want solutions to attract and retain doctors, and our Workforce Working Group has delivered.”

Dr Yim said doctors had been calling for several solutions outlined, including a national health workforce planning agency to tie training numbers to community need.

“Other recommendations involve innovative approaches to medicine, such as virtual training supervision and a radical redefinition of the core role of doctors,” Dr Yim said.

“If we are going to deploy our doctors efficiently, they must be working at the top of their scope of practice and not completing tasks that could be done by someone — or something — else.

“The medical workplace is evolving rapidly, and our health services must move with it.

“It is time the government and profession worked together to secure the medical workforce Queenslanders need now and into the future.”

Originally published as AMAQ reveals major changes needed in Queensland health system