Rebuilding Employment Services

This ABC News article gives us a glimpse into the life of Kelly, who changed careers and became a Practice Assistant - a role that is in demand and seen as a crucial bridge between patients and clinicians, especially in rural areas that are vulnerable to staffing shortages. Kelly undertook a Certificate IV in Medical Practice Assisting, which equipped her with a range of hands-on skills, such as performing ECGs, monitoring blood pressure, and managing sterilisation and infection control.

The Final Report from the Kruk Review, led by Ms Robyn Kruk AO, makes 28 recommendations designed to ease skills shortages in critical health professions and reform Australia's regulatory settings for overseas trained health practitioners and international students who have studied in Australia. The review recommends simplifying and streamlining application processes, including qualification recognition and comparability assessments, among other reforms.

This RACGP News article explores a new report for the government's Special Commission of Inquiry into Healthcare Funding. The report is co-authored by the NSW Chief Health Officer, Dr Kerry Chant, and it makes important observations regarding the current funding model - including its lack of funding for preventative health care strategies, and its inefficient support of innovative service delivery and the development of new models of care, especially out-of-hospital models of care.

The AMA has released a position statement on medical workforce distribution, highlighting inconsistencies, fluctuating under and over supply of medical prodessionals, and the geographical maldistribution of the workforce. They identify inconsistent planning cycles and bottlenecks of PGY 3+ doctors and unaccredited service registrars trying to access down stream vocational training.