AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen provides members with the latest from the national AMA.
Hello, and happy Friday!
With all the MPs in town, it was a week for the AMA to be up on the hill!
We had meetings across both sides of government this week. We kicked it off with a meeting with Senator Anne Ruston, the Shadow Health Minister. While the election delivered a large majority, it remains crucially important that we have a strong opposition to ensure balance in our political system. All sides must understand the critical situation health is in, and the importance of robust reforms to ensure Medicare is fit for purpose, our public hospitals are properly funded, and our private sector thrives. With legislation to formalise the Australian Centre for Disease Control expected any day, we reiterated the AMA's strong commitment to a CDC and the important role it could play in infectious diseases and pandemic preparedness.
We also met with Tom Venning, the MP for Grey in South Australia. It was so energising to meet with a newly elected member who is keen to shape rural health in particular.
On Wednesday, it was back up to the hill to meet with Assistant Ministers Emma McBride and Rebecca White. With disability and the NDIS added to Minister Butler's portfolio, it's more important than ever that he has well-supported assistant ministers to help with the task of reforming our health system. Between them these assistant ministers have coverage of women's health, mental health, rural health, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and climate health issues. We covered this huge range of issues. A large piece of this work is ensuring people with complex health needs have access to the time they need with their doctor. The benefits of modernising Medicare would be felt across many of these portfolio areas and we'll keep up our advocacy work.
Wednesday also kept me busy with a meeting with the Australian College of Nursing, where we talked about the significant common ground we have in supporting collaborative, team-based care with strong clinical governance.
I shifted gears and then joined Day Hospitals Australia at their annual conference on a panel about the financial sustainability of day hospitals. Ensuring the viability of the private sector is a key priority of ours currently, and Julian Rait continues to advocate strongly for you and the system through the CEO forum.
Last night, I had the pleasure of joining AMA Tasmania's online GP Round Table looking at Patient Centred Health Care solutions. It was a fantastic opportunity to share local and national priorities to drive solutions that make sense across our complex health system and deliver value to our patients and our members! Importantly, a chance to talk to members in Tasmania and generate priorities to take to the new Tasmanian Minister of Health.
You can also read more from AMA Tasmania in this edition of Rounds as AMA Tasmania CEO Lara Giddings AO updates AMA members on becoming a branch of federal AMA one year on.
Whichever corner of our country you call home, I hope you have a great weekend. See you again next week!
