Immediate support for doctors working in our public hospitals is needed to ensure Australia can continue delivering world-leading patient care.
With hospitals in logjam and their medical workforce at serious risk of burnout and attrition, the Australian Medical Association is calling for immediate action from all governments to fund and implement the Hospital Registrar and Career Medical Officer (CMO) Framework that was developed through the Medical Workforce Reform and Advisory Committee.
This framework has not been adopted by jurisdictions, despite being prepared more than two years ago and outlined in the National Medical Workforce Strategy with strong support from the profession. It has a clear focus on supporting doctors in these roles to build career pathways, access training opportunities, and progress towards specialist training if they choose.
Hospital registrars and CMOs are fundamental to providing patient care in hospitals. At present, these doctors often experience poor working conditions and are at significant risk of burnout.
AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen said without action from all governments, Australia would lose experienced hospital doctors, who may move overseas or leave the profession out of frustration.
"Australia's ability to continue delivering the highest standards of patient care depends on a well-supported hospital medical workforce, but sadly the supports hospital registrars and CMOs need are often lacking," Dr McMullen said.
"This should be seen as an investment in supporting an already stretched workforce to ensure patients continue to receive care from well-trained, well-supported clinicians."
AMA Council of Doctors in Training Chair Dr Sanjay Hettige said the AMA welcomed the federal government's investment in additional Commonwealth-supported places for medical schools, but there must be more downstream support to unlock the true potential of this investment.
"Prevocational doctors need structured support and clear career pathways that promote wellbeing, provide appropriate training and professional development, offer the opportunity of specialist training, and help build a workforce that meets evolving community needs," Dr Hettige said.
The framework also needs to be backed by greater investment by governments in specialist training positions in our public hospitals to meet community need, with evidence that a growing number of doctors in training are unable to access specialist training.
The AMA had significant input into the development of the draft Hospital Registrar and CMO Framework. Though it is ready to be implemented, progress has stalled as decision makers in jurisdictions continue to sit on the unreleased document.
"The implementation of this framework is woefully overdue, and we can't afford any more delays in providing much needed support to this critical part of the public hospital workforce," Dr Hettige said.
The framework makes several high-level recommendations for measures that would cement structured training pathways, career development, cultural safety and wellbeing for hospital registrars and CMOs.
It aims to improve job security, training access, and progression pathways while ensuring safe work conditions and feedback mechanisms to support a sustainable and valued medical workforce.
